Frank McDonald King (14 December 1926 – 23 December 1990) was a West Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in 14

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

between

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. Born in Delamere Land, Brighton, St Michael,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, King was a hostile right-arm fast bowler who opened the bowling for the West Indies in three consecutive home series in the early 1950s. But he failed to build on a promising debut in the 1952–53 series against the

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...

, when, with 17 wickets, he was the second highest wicket-taker after Alf Valentine. In the third Test of the series, he took 5 for 74 in India's first innings, and also broke the hand of the Indian wicketkeeper,

Ebrahim Maka Ebrahim Suleman Maka (5 March 1922 – 7 November 1994) was a wicket-keeper who represented Indian cricket team, India in Test cricket. He was born in Daman District, India, Daman, at the time part of Portuguese India. Maka appeared at a t ...

. The report of the tour in '' Wisden'', however, says that he "used the bumper a little too often for it to be a surprise ball". The following season he played three Tests against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and took eight wickets, again bowling with much hostility and inflicting injury to several batsmen, though he himself also suffered from muscle strains. In 1954–55 he took just three wickets in four Tests against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

; he made his highest Test score of 21 in the second innings of the First Test, which prevented an innings defeat. His one overseas tour, to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1955–56, was blighted by injury. In the first Test, he pulled up with a strained muscle at the start of his ninth over; returning for the third Test, he again was injured, this time after four balls of his ninth over. This tour saw the emergence of

Tom Dewdney David Thomas Dewdney (born 23 October 1933) is a West Indian former international cricketer who played in nine Test matches between 1955 and 1958. After only two first-class matches for Jamaica in 1954–55 in which he took 3 wickets, Tom Dewd ...

as a fast bowler, and King never again appeared for the West Indies. When he was passed over for the 1957 West Indies tour to England, King retired from

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

and moved to England where he played league cricket for West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham League.''Wisden'' 1992, p. 1257. King played for

from 1947–48 to 1956–57, except for 1950–51, when he played two matches for

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

against Barbados. His best bowling figures were 5 for 35 against Jamaica in 1951–52. He died in England at

Bescot Bescot is an area of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is served by Bescot Stadium railway station, adjacent to which is Bescot depot where locomotives are maintained. The Banks's Stadium was built in 1990 for Walsall F.C. The area is ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in 1990 aged 64.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Frank 1926 births 1990 deaths West Indies Test cricketers Barbadian cricketers Barbados cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Barbadian emigrants to England People from Saint Michael, Barbados