| Playername | Bill Frindall |
|---|
| Fullname | William Howard Frindall |
|---|
| Dayofbirth | 3 |
|---|
| Monthofbirth | 3 |
|---|
| Yearofbirth | 1939 |
|---|
| Placeofbirth | Epsom, Surrey |
|---|
| Countryofbirth | England |
|---|
| Dayofdeath | 29 |
|---|
| Monthofdeath | 1 |
|---|
| Yearofdeath | 2009 |
|---|
| Placeofdeath | |
|---|
| Countryofdeath | England |
|---|
| Nickname | The Bearded Wonder, Bearders |
|---|
| Batting | Right-handed batsman |
|---|
| Bowling | Right arm medium |
|---|
| Role | Scorer, statistician, author |
|---|
| Club1 | Marylebone Cricket Club |
|---|
| Year1 | 1972 |
|---|
| Columns | 0 |
|---|
| Date | 29 January |
|---|
| Year | 2009 |
|---|
| Source | http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/86/86767/86767.html CricketArchive |
|---|
William Howard Frindall,
MBE (3 March 1939 – 29 January 2009) was an English
cricket scorer and
statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the
BBC Radio 4 programme
Test Match Special, nicknamed
the Bearded Wonder (often shortened to
Bearders) by
Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in moments, at the same time as keeping perfect scorecards, and because he had a beard.
Early and private life
Frindall was born in
Epsom,
Surrey. He was educated at
Reigate Grammar School, and studied
architecture at the Kingston School of Art. Frindall died on 29 January 2009, following a short illness after contracting
Legionnaires' disease during a charity cricketing tour of
Dubai with the
Lord's Taverners. where he played one match against
Gloucestershire's Second XI, bowling six wicketless overs for 22 runs, and scoring one run in the second innings before he was
caught and bowled. He continued as an effective
fast bowler in
club cricket for many years, particularly in charity matches, although his batting was somewhat agricultural. He ran a touring team, the Malta Maniacs,
It was a common boast of Frindall that he was born on the first day of the last "Timeless Test", between England and South Africa, which became the longest Test ever played (the game was abandoned after 9 days' play spread over 12 days).
Opinions
Frindall was known for staunchly defending his beliefs about cricket statistics. When the
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians attempted to revise the status of many 19th century and pre-war matches, which would have produced statistics that are different from the conventional, Frindall was among those who objected to their "rewriting of history". As a result, some ACS statistics are different from those in
Wisden, which is regarded as the standard. For example, the ACS has awarded
Jack Hobbs 199 hundreds (as recorded on Cricinfo), while
Wisden, the generally accepted standard, gives him his "traditional" total of 197.
More recently, when the International Cricket Council decided to award Test and One Day International status to the matches played for the Tsunami benefit and the ICC Super Series between Australia and a Rest of the World team, Frindall, in common with many statisticians and historians, disputed the ruling. As a result, Playfair and other publications to which he supplied statistics did not classify those matches as official Tests or ODIs.
Honours and awards
In 1998, Frindall was awarded the honorary Degree of
Doctor of Technology by
Staffordshire University for his contribution to statistics. He was appointed an
MBE for services to cricket and
broadcasting in the 2004 summer
Honours list., including "Beard of the year".
Publications
In June 2006, his autobiography,
Bearders - My Life in Cricket, was published by
Orion. Frindall's other works include the
Wisden Book of Test Cricket; the
Playfair Cricket Annual, which he edited for 23 years, from 1986 until his death;
the
Wisden Book of Cricket Records; the
Guinness Book of Cricket - Facts and Feats; and the 'Cricket records' section of the
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which he wrote for several years.
He was also briefly a correspondent for the Mail on Sunday.
References
External links
Bill Frindall's website
Frindall's "Ask Bearders" column at the BBC
Category:1939 births
Category:2009 deaths
Category:Cricket scorers
Category:Cricket historians and writers
Category:Cricket commentators
Category:British radio personalities
Category:Old Reigatians
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People associated with Staffordshire University
Category:People from Epsom
Category:Infectious disease deaths in England
![Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.](http://web.archive.org./web/20101227153416im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/57/8f/439c6ab4cff80706d3058dc19dc2_grande.jpg "Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.")
![Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.](http://web.archive.org./web/20101227153416im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/a3/3d/f6e2c40343f8207a94df26b3b39a_grande.jpg "Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.")
![Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.](http://web.archive.org./web/20101227153416im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/57/8f/439c6ab4cff80706d3058dc19dc2_thumb.jpg "Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.")
![Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.](http://web.archive.org./web/20101227153416im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/a3/3d/f6e2c40343f8207a94df26b3b39a_thumb.jpg "Urchfont is a small, rural village to the north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles from the market town of Devizes. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577) and Lydeway (SU052578) [1] [2]. The population of Urchfont (ward) is 1,690, according to the 2001 Census.")
