Biography

Fred Titmus started his cricket career as an off spin bowler in 1955, but by the time he had played his last Test in 1975, he had become an accomplished bat, worthy of being called an all rounder. He played in only 53 Tests in his twenty year long Test career, and it may have been even lesser had it been some other mortal. With Jim Laker firmly entrenched in the squad, it was impossible for England to look beyond, and Titmus lost 7 years between 1956 to 1972, to Laker and poor selectorial decisions.

But once he was selected into the team, in 1962, for his 136 county wickets and more than 1200 runs, he never looked back, and played five more years of cricket at the top. His performances were so impressive that he was elevated to the post of vice captain, when he got involved in a very tragic accident while swimming, and lost four of his toes.

His form deteriorated after that, and though he did make a comeback in 1974-75, it was a one off, and he had played his last international match in 1975. He continued playing county cricket for Surrey till 1982. Post retirement, he was involved in working with bowlers with defective bowling actions, like Harbhajan Singh, and released his autobiography in 2005.