They don’t make them like ‘Fiery’ Fred Trueman any more. Asked how he wanted to be remembered he replied, ‘as t’finest bloody fast bowler that ever drew breath’ — and he wouldn’t be far wrong. Trueman was the first bowler to take 300 Test Match wickets and because of his hostility, unrelenting accuracy and ability to swing the ball both ways he would certainly make his mark in the modern game. Sir Harold Wilson called Trueman ‘the greatest living Yorkshireman’ and he’d still be pretty near the top of the pile today. He arrived with a thud — 14 lbs 1 oz — on 6 February 1931, but only just inside the boundary — another 300 yards south and he would have landed in Nottinghamshire. Who would then have taken 1,745 wickets for Yorkshire or scored 6852 runs?
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