OTD | Fred Trueman became the first bowler to take 300 wickets in Test cricket in 1964 

Former England bowling legend Fred Trueman was a pioneer in the art of fast bowling. As feisty as he was on the field of play he was feisty just off it as well. The Yorkshire-based pacer terrorized a lot of batters with his pace and his ability to bowl endlessly and tirelessly. 

When he dismissed Graham McKenzie during the Oval test of 1964, Fred Trueman became the first bowler to reach 300 wickets in Test cricket. The massive crowd stood up to applaud as the bowler was congratulated by all his teammates. 

Hadn’t it been for the injuries he suffered and the constant run-ins with the management, Fred Trueman would have gone on to achieve even bigger feats. His Test career ended with 307 wickets from 67 matches. 

Fred Trueman picked 17 fifers and 3 ten-wicket hauls during the course of his career with a best of 8/31. His bowling average was just 21.57 while his strike rate was a mind-boggling 49.4. 

Fred Trueman: The pioneer of fast bowling

Yorkshire has been the haven of fast bowling in English cricket. Fred Trueman came into the cricketing circles as a pacer who could bowl at good speeds and knock over the batters. His pace and swing had the best batters in the world looking to survive and look to score runs off the other bowlers. 

In his debut Test versus India in front of his home crowd, Fred Trueman picked 3/89 in his first innings and 4/27 in the second innings. In the next game at Lord’s, Fred Trueman picked 8 wickets for the game to help the team achieve a draw. The best was yet to come as Trueman picked his career-best 8/31 to bowl out India for 58. 

As the years went on, Alec Bedser and Fred Trueman became the best new ball bowling pair in the world. Fred Trueman was one of the earliest ‘in-your-face’ bowlers who didn’t mind engaging in a few words with the batters if he wasn’t pleased. 

His last Test came versus New Zealand by which time he was 34 years old. Fred Trueman picked just two wickets in the entire game with the wicket of Richard Collinge being his final in Test cricket. Fred Trueman also played an astonishing 603 First-class matches and picked 2304 wickets with a best of 8/28 with 126 fifers and 25 Ten wickets in the game. The pacer also had 18 Appearances in List A Cricket grabbing 28 wickets with a best of 6/15 which was his only fifer in the shorter format of the game.