Fred Titmus: a career of remarkable longevity – Almanack

Fred Titmus began his first-class career when Clement Attlee was in office and ended it during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher; his career outlasted seven other Prime Ministers in between. To play in five decades was remarkable enough; to finish his first-class career with 2,830 wickets and 21,588 runs – on 16 occasions he claimed more than 100 wickets in a summer, and he performed the double eight times – even more so. As an all-rounder in county cricket, he breathed the same air as the very best, while in 53 Tests he was never less than tough and resourceful.

There was a clutch of talented off-spinners waiting to succeed Laker – David Allen and John Mortimore at Gloucestershire and Ray Illingworth at Yorkshire. “All were fine practitioners, but I always believed Fred Titmus had the edge,” Laker said.

Titmus played in two Tests against Pakistan in 1962, and 136 wickets that summer persuaded the selectors to take him to Australia. Seizing his second chance, he showed particular relish for Sydney: he exploited a cross-wind to take 7-79 in the Third Test, and 5-103 when the sides returned for the Fifth. He was England’s leading wicket-taker in the series with 21 at 29, and also contributed 182 runs. E. M. Wellings called him “the most important member of the team”.

In India the following winter, he took 27 Test wickets – including nine at Madras – as well as making his highest Test score, 84 not out, at Bombay. And in South Africa in the winter of 1964-65, he and Allen bowled England to victory at Durban in the only decisive result of the series.

Titmus was frequently more successful overseas but, against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, he took four wickets without conceding a run in his 21st over. He was an automatic selection for a second Ashes tour in 1965-66, and once again he starred at Sydney, sharing eight wickets with Allen in the second innings. “He always wanted to bowl with the wind,” Allen said. “But then he would turn to me and complain about how it hurt his eyes when he walked back to the start of his run-up.”

He was vice-captain in the West Indies in 1967-68, but his trip ended abruptly when he was one of a group enjoying a day on the beach in Barbados before the Third Test. Several players were hanging on the side of a motorboat piloted by Penny Cowdrey, the England captain’s wife. Unaware that its unusual design meant the propeller was in the middle, Titmus allowed his legs to rise towards the hull.

Two toes were sliced off and two left dangling, but he had the good fortune to be treated by Dr Homer Rogers, a Canadian surgeon with experience of dealing with foot injuries suffered by ice hockey players. Rogers reassured Titmus that, because his big toe had been spared, he would be able to play again.

Sure enough, he was back in action little more than two months later, at Derby on May 3; initially bowling in crepe-soled shoes, he took 111 wickets that summer.

He made brief returns for Middlesex in 1979 and 1980, but another appearance was not on his mind when he arrived at Lord’s on the morning of August 25, 1982, the first day of the match against Surrey. Middlesex had Emburey and Phil Edmonds but it was Clive Radley who, on inspecting the pitch, told Brearley: “We’ve got to get Fred to play.” The PA announcer was kept waiting for the team-sheet while kit was found and – three months from his 50th birthday – Titmus made his 792nd and final first-class appearance, taking three wickets to wrap up victory on the final afternoon.

He had a spell as a Test selector in the 1990s, but it was an unhappy experience, and he was more content at home in Potten End, rising at 4 am to pick up the newspapers and often delivering them himself. Once he was knocked off his bike by a post office van and, writhing in mock agony, ripped off his shoe and sock. Pointing to his disfigured foot, he shouted at the ashen-faced driver: “Look what you’ve done.”