Over the years, as cricket has evolved, it is leg-spin; out of all trades of the game, that has garnered the most discussion. Some have regarded leg-spinners as ‘unplayable’ and ‘majestic’ while others have termed them as ‘eccentric & inconsistent’. One moment they’re beating a batsman’s outside edge, on the next they’re tossing up a juicy full toss. But say what you may, it is worth noting that 2 of the top 3 highest wicket-takers in international test cricket have been leg-spinners. It has been these artists, who have conjured up some of the most iconic moments in test cricket. Be it Eric Hollies, the man known for getting the great Don Bradman out for a duck in his last innings, or be it Shane Warne, who produced the jaw-dropping ‘ball of the century’ against Mike Gatting in 1993, leg-spinners always managed to make their way into the limelight.
Love them or not love them, but one can certainly not ignore leg-spinners.
A similar tale comes from England, of Alfred Percy ‘Tich’ Freeman, a leg-spinner who completely enthralled the cricketing world with his bowling. A tale of a bowler who terrorized the batsmen of his generation. A tale, one can simply not afford to ignore.
Born at Lewisham in 1988, Freeman played his early cricket for small clubs and teams on the grounds of Essex. But it was in the neighbouring county of Kent, where he would go on to claim all major accolades of his career. Starting with their second team, Freeman worked his way up into the main squad, going on to play more than 500 first-class matches for the Kent County Cricket Club.
Freeman’s diminutive figure earned him his nickname, ‘Tich’. A name that would be attached with him for the remainder of his life and career, but a name that was far from his stature on the cricket field. Standing only a little over 5 feet tall, Freeman enjoyed the benefit of a low-release point, thereby giving the ball a lower trajectory as compared to other spinners (A technique used effectively well by Muttiah Muralitharan as well). His short strides and brisk action made it further difficult for the batsmen to pick him up. Another unique facet of Freeman’s bowling was his unorthodox grip on the ball. An orthodox grip for leg-spin requires the bowler to hold the ball between his thumb, index finger and ring finger. Freeman, meanwhile, used his thumb, ring, and middle fingers. He even had a couple of variations up his sleeve, in the form of flipper and googly. All in all, Freeman was a handful for batsmen. A bowler who had to be carefully navigated and could be played with a straight bat only.
But by the start of 1914, just as Freeman was cementing his foothold in the Kent team, the World War forced the domestic competitions to be abandoned all over the world. That period was an extremely tough one for cricket. With hundreds of players listing themselves with the army, it was not long before The Wisden Almanack’s obituary column started flowing with the names of many players. There were many as well who did survive the war but were disabled due to injuries and therefore had their careers cut short. With the war eating up four years, and a brief failed experiment with two-day county matches, first-class county cricket resumed only in 1920.
Freeman had his plans sorted out all along. He was not going to let the war bog down his cricketing career. He waited. Just as a tiger waits, still and motionless, looking for the right time to pounce onto its prey. The resumption of county cricket saw ‘Tich’ Freeman produced some of the finest cricket of his career. He turned to-pick a truckload of wickets into a menial task. Freeman scalped more than 100 wickets in consecutive seasons in the early 1920s. His continuous performances at the top level ensured that Freeman was named a Wisden Cricketer of the year in 1923. That year’s almanack went on to describe a performance of Freeman’s as one of the finest they have witnessed. It came against Surrey. Chasing a total of 290, Surrey were in cruise control at 257 for the loss of 2, thanks to Hobbs and Sandham. But ‘Tich’ spun his magic web and managed 3 wickets in quick succession. Though Surrey scampered through in the end and won by 3 wickets, Wisden Almanack stating: “Freeman had paralyzed the batsmen”, speaks volumes of his abilities as a bowler.
But the first half of the decade was merely the tip of the iceberg. These performances were only a hint for the storm that was about to hit the English County Cricket in the coming years. In 1928, Tich Freeman went on to claim 304 scalps in a single season – a record for most wickets in a single season that still stands to this day. His list of records doesn’t end here. He went on to produce performances and figures that were simply mind-boggling. Freeman was the highest wicket-taker in an English County season 3 more times; in 1930, 1931 and 1933. Picking 10 wickets in an innings is an ultimate desire for every bowler. They toil, day after day, innings after innings, to produce that magical spell where they send an entire side back to the pavilion. Tich Freeman managed to do that 3 times! And though, 10 wickets in an innings have been claimed by several bowlers, only 4 have managed to do it more than once, and none except ‘Tich’ has done it more than twice. Freeman once managed to take 17 wickets in a match against Warwickshire in 1932; a feat that has been bettered only once (by Jim Laker, who famously picked 19 wickets vs Australia in 1956), and replicated only twice post World War II. Such figures, show the sheer dominance that Tich Freeman has had on the stat-charts. Over his entire first-class career, Freeman managed 386 five-wicket hauls and 140 ten-wicket hauls. Both tallies being individual records that are still unbeaten. To put these numbers into perspective, we look at the two modern greats of spin bowling – Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. Their five-wicket hauls stand at 69 & 119, and ten-wickets in a match tally at 12 and 34, respectively. Undoubtedly, Freeman played more matches than Murali and Warne, but his figures are baffling and awe-inspiring nonetheless.
But like most things in the universe, a cricketing career has its ebbs and flows too. Freeman had his fair share of ebbs, accompanying his flows, throughout his career.
With hordes of wickets, season after season, Freeman got the call-up for the England team in 1924. Touring the mighty Australians, Freeman was not able to produce the same magic that he managed back home. The skilful Aussies, with sound technique and footwork, made light work of Freeman. On tour, against the Proteas in 1927/28, his returns of 14 wickets in 7 matches, could barely be termed as decent, when compared to his domestic track record. These initial failures with the national side, finally gave a window of opportunity for his critics to pounce upon. They claimed that Freeman had nothing to show for performances other than his meticulous work rate. It was claimed that; for Freeman to be effective, either the pitch needs to have some juice for spinners, or the batting side has to be weak. In the return tour, when South Africa visited England, Freeman’s performances improved a notch, where he picked 22 wickets in two matches. However, the last match of the series saw the spinner go wicketless for 49 overs, conceding 169 runs. This shabby performance, sadly, drew curtains over his short-lived national career. A much-awaited prospect got reduced to only a what-if, all in a couple of years. Though, looking at his stats, 66 wickets in 12 matches, one would say it was criminal to have dropped him from the side! But that is how cruel the sport of Cricket can be.
Out of the national set-up, Freeman continued being a key figure for the Kent team until 1934/35. His form in the county dipped over the next two seasons and he parted ways with Kent after the 1937 season. Eventually, ‘Tich’ Freeman called it quits after a couple of seasons in the lower district leagues. By the time he retired, Freeman had amassed a total of 3,776 wickets, sitting second on the list of most wickets in first-class cricket. He opened a sports equipment’s shop later on and was granted life membership of Marylebone Cricket Club in 1949.
Despite having a colossal career, ‘Tich’ Freeman, only remains a name on a list. For a man, who locked horns with greats like Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe and Wally Hammond, the annals of history have failed to retain the glimmer that Freeman brought to the game. Perhaps, his failure with the national squad was his undoing. His national team records may suggest that he was no Grace or Compton, but Cricket will remember him as an ardent student of the game, a devout acolyte who breathed life into spin bowling, an art that would be picked up and savoured by the generations to follow.
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