Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, is situated
where the Swan river embraces the southeast coast. It is blessed with natural
beauty and an easygoing outdoor lifestyle. Bright sunshine, deep blue sea,
adventurous landscapes, attractive beaches, festivals and blessed people make
Perth one of the most happening places on earth.
Then, at Nelson Crest, East Perth, there lies the WACA
cricket ground, which itself has been a spectator of many memorable cricketing
incidents for so many years and has been the centre of attraction for the
tourists and cricket lovers since Test cricket commenced on this ground.
Since the 1890s, the WACA has been Western Australia's home
of cricket. On December 16, 1970, it hosted the first ever Test match and since
then, this ground has witnessed some of the most epic battles and eye-catching
individual performances which still remain etched in the memories of the
cricket lovers.
A historic day
December 13, 1975. For the first time, the American
late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Richard Pryor
used a time delay, Jane Blalock won the LPGA 14 Colgate Triple Crown Golf
Tournament, the former Soviet Union performed a nuclear test in Kazakh and in
the Australian Federal Elections, Liberals with coalition under Malcolm Frasier
won largest ever parliamentary majority.
So, December 13, 1975, was not just an ordinary day, but it
happened to be quite a significant day to remember and from a cricketing
perspective, it was made an unforgettable one by a southpaw from Guyana named
Roy Fredericks.
It was summer in Australia and on this day, forty years ago
in Perth, Malcolm Fraser, the Prime Minister in a minority coalition
government, was caught in a brouhaha outside the Northcote town hall. A bunch
of angry mobs spat on him and pelted beer cans at him.
A strike at the Carlton & United breweries triggered
fears of a beer drought throughout the country and on December 13, 1975, a fire
broke in one of the new skyscrapers being built in downtown and thus, the
situation at Perth was chaotic and the skyline turned gloomy by smoke.
West Indies' chance tour Down Under
Amid this rut, Perth was hosting the second Test match
between West Indies and Australia.
The West Indies were a young side and under the leadership
of Clive Lloyd, they had just won the first ever World Cup by beating Ian
Chappell’s Australia at Lord’s few months back in 1975. In the same year, Lloyd
and his men toured Down Under for a six-match Test series.
West Indies were not supposed to tour during that time.
Instead, it was South Africa who were scheduled to visit, but Australia joined
the sporting boycott against apartheid. The Caribbeans were offered to play and
fill the empty summer schedule.
West Indies were beaten comprehensively by eight wickets in
the first Test at Brisbane and then, they traveled to Perth for the second
Test.
This was the only Test match which stood out like an oasis
in the desert for the Caribbeans who had a thoroughly miserable tour that was
brightened by this one match which hit the headlines due to Roy Fredericks’
murderous knock.
Greg Chappell, Australia’s captain, won the toss and elected
to bat first. The West Indian pace bowlers kept on dismissing the Aussie
batsmen, but Ian Chappell, free from the cares and pressures of captaincy,
played an innings of controlled aggression to help Australia post 329 runs in
their first innings.
A young Michael Holding, who was playing in his second Test,
picked up four wickets and he finished the Australian innings in the second
morning in style – Ian Chappell, Jeff Thomson and Ashley Mallett were castled
via sheer pace.
Fredericks' outstanding innings
Fredericks' outstanding innings
Roy Fredericks came out to open the innings with Bernard
Julien, who was an all-rounder and suited more at number six or seven. But,
Lloyd played a gamble as at that point of time he had less faith in his another
young player Gordon Greenidge who bagged a pair in Gabba.
Anyhow, Dennis Lillee, the tear-away fast bowler took the
new ball to bowl the first over. Lillee’s second ball was banged in short and
with pace and Fredericks tried to hook it – the ball flew off the top-edge and
landed in the crowd sitting on the leg side boundary.
It was a six and thus, one of Test cricket’s most dynamic
and jaw-dropping knocks started to unfold.
The fast bowlers of those days didn’t like to be hooked,
pulled and cut mercilessly. It was dubbed as an insult to them and on that
eventful day, Fredericks kept bruising the ego of the Australian pace attack with
a rare disdain.
His cut shots were spectacular as well as Ashley Mallett
described, “There was many a time when he cut at lifting deliveries, and at the
precise instant he struck the ball, both his feet were well clear of the
ground. I was fielding in the gully and nothing came anywhere near me, yet
Freddo was cutting fiercely, the ball soaring over my head and to my left,
round point”.
The famous West Australian sea breeze “Fremantle Doctor”
blew the ground and added enough woes to the miseries of the Aussies who were
already getting roasted by the heat of the blazing sun and the scorching
stroke-play of Fredericks.
Fredericks' bat was 'something
between a rapier and a bludgeon'
According to Ashley Mallett, “The Fremantle Doctor added to
Australia's woes, for the wind reached 50kph. Add that to the speed of Freddo's
ferocious strokes. Surely the good doctor, who with his cooling hand comes to
the rescue of the people of Perth every afternoon in summer, could have given
Freddo a calming pill to save the poor Aussies from a terrible hiding”.
One of Thomson's deliveries that day was clocked at 99.68
miles per hour by university researchers, and the speed with which it flew off
Fredericks’ bat was unimaginable.
Terry Jenner, the twelfth man for the match, was fielding at
point as a substitute fielder said, “I'd been sitting there with my feet, up
but then I came onto the ground, I think it was for Ross Edwards, my laces were
undone so I had to do them up, get out there and go straight to forward point
and the first ball off (Gary) Gilmour was a massive square drive that curved
towards me, I got down and it spun straight past me and went for four.... bloody
embarrassing - when you're the 12th man and that's what happens to you.
"But he was awesome, Fredericks. He played hooks, cuts,
drives, every shot in the book. It wasn't a mug attack by a long shot, and it
was just an awesome innings, one of those innings of a lifetime really ...
unbelievable!”
Fredericks notched up his fifty off 33 balls and by lunch,
West Indies were 130 for 1. After lunch, one staggering stroke followed after
another at a rapid pace. Fredericks scored his hundred off 71 balls and when he
was caught at slip after tea, he made 169 runs off 145 balls out of 258.
In his tour book, Frank Tyson wrote, “His flashing bat could
be described as lying somewhere between a rapier and a bludgeon."
"His high and full backswing gave each shot a
tremendous power, yet at the same time, there was finesse of execution. It would be hard to imagine a better century”.
Fredericks’ 169 outweighed the intensity of the Australian
Federal Election and made December 13, 1975, all his own.
It was a big time brutality and still people talk about that
blazing knock as because it is never easy to gift Lillee and Thomson buffets of
embarrassments without wearing a helmet on the fastest wicket of the world. Roy
Fredericks was the man to do that on that sun-kissed day at Perth.
December 13, 1975, was not an ordinary day of Test cricket.
Note: This article has been published in Sportskeeda on 14/12/2015
Roy Fredericks' big time brutality at Perth
Thank You
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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