Fred Swarbrook - an appreciation

It is funny how cricket has changed over the past forty-odd summers that I have watched the game. OK, it is essentially the same sport, but the levels of fitness and the advancement in strokeplay has been quite extraordinary, as has the overall fitness of the players. Indeed, when I first started watching Derbyshire in earnest, the combined waistlines of Fred Rumsey, Fred Swarbrook and Phil Sharpe were probably the equal of the entire current eleven.

Mind you, it did them little real harm. Sharpe, though past his best as a batsman, caught everything at slip while Rumsey was a parsimonious one day bowler, though no batsman nor fielder. For me, though, a real favourite was Fred Swarbrook.

You see, Fred was a young bloke who left us young supporters thinking we could become first class cricketers. Looking at these whippet-slim lads playing today with barely an ounce of body fat (I'm not talking Rob Key, Robert Croft or David Sales here...) is a long way removed from the rotund Swarbrook. Having said that, the quest for a spinner of comparable quality has gone on since his premature departure from the scene, a victim of the 'yips.'  His enforced retirement cast a shadow over Derbyshire cricket for some time, although, as one of my friends pointed out, Fred did that most times he moved...

Round of face and body, Fred's premature baldness made him look older than he was, a cross between Mr Pickwick and David Nixon, the TV magician. He was only sixteen on his county debut, yet in my minds eye never really looked any different. He was a 100% man, something that fans always appreciated.

On the field he was totally committed and would hold his catches, moving with remarkable speed for a man of bulk. Sometimes the legs took some time to get going, but there was an air of reassurance when Fred was under a steepler that it would be held. As a batsman he was dogged, a night watchman par excellence who transformed a good few one day innings in partnership with Bob Taylor.

Between 1969 and 1979 Fred regularly averaged between twenty and thirty, though never beat his 1970 ninety against Essex as a top score in England. He was effective rather than fluent, a batsman in the "Derbyshire method" of the time, a nurdler and nudger, working the spaces and keeping it ticking over. You never really looked forward to him batting, but were reassured by his entry to proceedings, usually at 110-6. Fred steered us to respectability more times than should really have been necessary, but much of his early cricket was in a poor side.

As a bowler he steadily improved and by 1975/76 was among the best spinners in the country. Irrespective of his size, Fred would have been an England contender today, but at that time such left arm spinners as Don Wilson, Norman Gifford, Derek Underwood and Ray East were around, all of them good players. Fred took 71 wickets at 23 in 1975, 65 at 24 in 1976. With Geoff Miller he made up our best spin pairing since Tom Mitchell and Les Townsend in the 1930s and Fred was only 26 in the latter season, with plenty of years ahead of him. In 1975 he destroyed Sussex, taking 9-20 on a day and wicket when he would have bowled out any side.

In 1977 there was a decline to 39 wickets at 29, but then Fred inexplicably lost it. Where previously he has bowled a probing length with considerable turn, now his bowling was like a baseball pitcher, full tosses and head high beamers becoming increasingly frequent as he struggled to pitch the ball. He saw a psychologist, who suggested putting a pebble in his pocket and rubbing it for luck. That same day Fred bowled one straight up in the air that came down on his head, prompting Eddie Barlow to suggest he rub the ball and bowl the pebble...

His last game for Derbyshire was in 1979 and he took no wickets that year, effectively finished at 29, though a successful career as a coach beckoned in South Africa. The statistics tell the story of a sound player though. Six thousand runs at 21 with 25 fifties; 467 wickets at 29.

Fred could play all right.