HookShot
U19 Vice-Captain
Here’s something about Spofforth….Might be interesting to compare them. Opinions differed at the time.
Hugh Trumble’s younger brother John wrote a letter to the ‘Times’ in 1928 describing Fred Spofforth as an ‘off break’ bowler who varied his pace between ‘fast’, ‘medium-pace’ and ‘slow’. He considered him to be the best bowler he had seen in his life-time.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/29297762THE WORLD'S BEST BOWLER.
F.R. SPOFFORTH.
In a letter to the London "Times," Mr. J. W. Trumble, a former Australian Eleven player, says he considers F.R. Spofforth was the world's greatest bowler. The following extracts are taken from it:—
I played with him and against him in Australia, and toured England with
him in 1886, and, as I happened to be; an allround player and slip fieldsman, my opportunities of studying his bowling were exceptional. Spofforth struck me as being a very remarkable man, possessed of rare mental ability, and of other assisting personal qualities which enabled him to bring to a successful conclusion almost anything "be took in hand.
He started as a fast, bowler, and then studied medium-pace and slow bowling, his objective being a completely disguised combination of the three paces; and those who saw him bowling at his best will remember to what perfection he attained in this direction. His action on delivery was exactly the same for all of the three paces, and it was in his magnificent concealment of change in the pace of his bowling that he stood out from all other bowlers of all time. Nobody ever fooled good batsmen with the slow ball so completely as did Spofforth.
I remember an exciting match between England and Australia, at Sydney in 1885, which Spofforth won by the successful use of this very ball. Flowers and Maurice Read were well set. Spofforth had bowled Read a fast one outside the off stump, which was left alone. The slow ball then came along in action, delivery, and flight, apparently a reproduction of its predecessor. Read played forward to it and completed his stroke before the ball had arrived. He then tried to pull his bat back to cover his wicket, but was too late to prevent the ball getting through to the stumps. I look upon this as the cleverest ball I ever saw bowled, and I am sure Maurice Read will well remember it. We won by six runs, and just before the dissolution of this partnership the match locked any odds on England.
Spofforth was an off-break bowler. He was very accurate in direction and pitch in all paces and could vary his pitch and direction to a very fine point. In our 1886 tour we had a strong bowling side, including Spofforth, Palmer, Giffen, Garrett and others, but before very long Spofforth impressed me as being in a class by himself. That apparently was W. G. Grace's view, for he said that, however well set he might be, and however good the wicket, he never felt sure "Spoff” would not bowl him out next ball.
Probably Spofforth greatest performance was his 14 wickets for 90 runs in that historic Test match at the Oval in 1882 which Australia won by seven runs. It may be remembered that England on going in a second time had to get only 85 runs in order to win. With three wickets down the score stood at 51, and the batsmen undisposed of to make the remaining 31 runs were Grace, Lucas, Lyttelton, Studd, Steel, Read, Barnes, and Peate. When Grace was out two runs later the Australians felt that they had a chance- It was then that SpoSorth was seen at his best. The scene has often been described, Spofforth, all out, tearing along like the "Demon he looked; Boyle, the most daring of fieldsmen, close up in front at mid-on; Blackham in keen expectancy behind-the stumps, with the field crowding in and keyed up. What an ordeal, almost terrifying in character for the later batsmen to face as wickets kept falling! Then we come to the closing scene, with Peate (about the worst bat of his time) lashing out at Boyle with Intel results, and declaring subsequently in justification of his action that he could, not trust Mr. Studd. In this innings Spofforth took seven wickets for 44.
As a student in the art of bowling Spofforth stood out from all other bowlers, and would, in my opinion, have been able to cope with the difficulties of present-day concrete-conditioned wickets better than any other bowler end be still the best of them all.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/29297762