Editing Bill Frindall

{{short description|British cricket scorer and statistician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox cricketer
|                name = Bill Frindall
|               image = 
|            fullname = William Howard Frindall
|          birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|3|3|df=yes}}
|         birth_place = [[Epsom]], Surrey, England
|          death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|1|30|1939|3|3|df=yes}}
|         death_place = [[Swindon]], Wiltshire, England
|            nickname = The Bearded Wonder, Bearders
|             batting = Right-handed
|             bowling = Right-arm [[Medium pace bowling|medium]]
|                role = [[Scorer]], statistician, author
|               club1 = [[Marylebone Cricket Club]]
|               year1 = 1972
|                date = 29 January
|                year = 2009
|              source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/86/86767/86767.html CricketArchive
}}
'''William Howard Frindall''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|MBE}} (3 March 1939 – 30 January 2009)<ref name="The Daily Telegraph">{{cite news|date=30 January 2009|title=Obituary: Bill Frindall|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4403030/Bill-Frindall.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215182947/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4403030/Bill-Frindall.html|archive-date=15 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Cowen|first=Lewis|date=8 February 2009|title=Widow tells of Bill Frindall's last moments|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/4107985.widow-tells-of-wiltshire-cricket-expert-bill-frindalls-last-moments/|access-date=2023-02-09|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|language=en}}</ref> was an English [[cricket]] [[scorer]] and [[Cricket statistics|statistician]], who was familiar to cricket followers as a member of the [[Test Match Special]] commentary team on [[BBC]] radio. He was nicknamed '''the Bearded Wonder''' (shortened to '''Bearders''') by [[Brian Johnston]] for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in moments, while continuing to keep perfect scorecards and because he had a beard.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph" /><ref name="Johnners Slice">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2OqrKIiMDnwC&pg=PT118 | title=Another Slice of Johnners | publisher=Random House | author=Johnston, Brian | author-link=Brian Johnston | year=2012 | pages=118 | isbn=978-1-4481-3289-8 | editor=Johnston, Barry | editor1-link =Barry Johnston (writer)}}</ref> [[Angus Fraser]] described Frindall as "the doyen of cricket scorers" in his obituary in ''[[The Independent]]''.<ref name=independent>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bill-frindall-longserving-scorer-on-test-match-special-1543660.html Obituary], ''[[The Independent]]'', 3 February 2009</ref>

==Early life==
Frindall was born in [[Epsom]], Surrey, and named after [[Victorian era|Victorian]] journalist [[William Howard Russell]]. He was educated at [[Tadworth]] county primary school and [[Reigate Grammar School]] and studied architecture at the [[Kingston School of Art]].<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/>

A schoolmaster introduced Frindall to cricket scoring one rainy sports afternoon when he was a boy. After joining the [[RAF]] as a [[National service#United Kingdom|National Serviceman]] in 1958 (he called it "training in advanced shirking"), and rising to the rank of corporal, he was commissioned as an accountant officer in the secretarial branch in November 1963. Two of his six years' service were spent at [[NATO]] headquarters at [[Fontainebleau]], outside Paris, and on leaving the RAF in 1965 he developed his [[handlebar moustache]] into a full beard.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/>

==Cricket player==
Frindall was an enthusiastic cricketer from his early years and played cricket for the RAF. He later played one match for the [[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]] [[Second XI Championship|Second XI]] in 1972,<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/86/86767/86767.html Player Profile: Bill Frindall] from CricketArchive retrieved 24 February 2009</ref> against [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]]'s Second XI, bowling six wicketless overs for 22 runs, and scoring one run in the second innings before he was [[caught and bowled]].<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32821.html Gloucestershire Second XI v Hampshire Second XI – Second Eleven Championship 1972] from CricketArchive retrieved 25 February 2009</ref> He continued as an effective [[fast bowler]] in [[club cricket]] for many years, particularly in charity matches, although his batting was somewhat agricultural.<ref name=times>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5622426.ece Obituary]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Times'', 31 January 2009</ref> He ran a touring team, the Malta Maniacs,<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/> and also played for the Elvinos and the [[Lord's Taverners]].<ref name=independent/>

==TMS scorer==
He became a freelance statistician in 1966, and took over the scoring for ''[[Test Match Special]]'' on 2 June 1966, at the First Test against [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]] at [[Old Trafford Cricket Ground|Old Trafford]]. He went on to become the longest-serving member of the ''TMS'' team, covering more than 350 Test matches, which he considered the only "proper" form of the game.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4403030/Bill-Frindall.html | work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London | title=Bill Frindall | date=30 January 2009}}</ref> 
  
He replaced the previous scorer, [[Arthur Wrigley]], who had been the [[BBC]] scorer from 1934 up to his death in October 1965.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/> Frindall speculatively wrote to the BBC, pointing out that they would need a new scorer, and secured the job.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/feb/02/obituary-cricket-bill-frindall | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Vic | last=Marks | title=Bill Frindall | date=2 February 2009}}</ref> After a trial period, Frindall continued to score for the BBC until his death, watching all 246 Test matches in England from June 1966 to 2008.<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> He covered 377 Tests for the BBC in all, forming a close working relationship with [[John Arlott]] and [[Brian Johnston]], providing continuity with later commentators such as [[Jonathan Agnew]]. Frindall's perfectionism clashed occasionally with [[Henry Blofeld]]'s more effusive – but error-prone – delivery.<ref name=independent/>

Frindall was also known for producing scoring charts for many of his tours with England. He modified the linear scoring system invented by [[John Atkinson Pendlington]] and developed by Australian scorer [[Bill Ferguson (cricket scorer)|Bill Ferguson]] into a version that is known as the '''Frindall system'''. Frindall met Ferguson in 1953, when he was 14 years old.<ref name="MBE"/> The concentration needed to maintain such consistently high-quality work was immense, and Frindall believed it was his time in the RAF that prepared him for the task. Writing honed by his training to be an architect meant that each page was beautifully laid out and easy to read. Every scorecard, like the wagon-wheels he produced to show where a batsman scored his runs after playing a significant innings, was a work of art.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bill-frindall-longserving-scorer-on-test-match-special-1543660.html | location=London | work=The Independent | title=Bill Frindall: Long-serving scorer on 'Test Match Special' | date=3 February 2009}}</ref> Frindall's work was so meticulously accurate that the commentators would habitually trust his figures if they differed from the official scoreboard.<ref name=independent/>

It was a common boast of Frindall that he was born on the first day of the last "[[Timeless Test]]", between [[England cricket team|England]] and [[South Africa national cricket team|South Africa]], which became the longest Test ever played (the game was abandoned after nine days' play spread over 12 days). He last appeared for ''Test Match Special'' at England's Test against India at [[Mohali]] in 2008. Given his love of such statistics, it is fitting that his funeral took place on 13 February 2009, the day of the shortest Test; the [[English cricket team in West Indies in 2009#2nd Test|second Test]] between England and the [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]] was abandoned after just 10 balls.<ref>[[Adam Mountford|Mountford, Adam]] (2009). ''[https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2009/02/antigua_counts_mixed_blessings.shtml Antigua counts mixed blessings]'', 15 February 2009. [[BBC Sport]]. Retrieved on 18 February 2009.</ref>

==Opinions==
Frindall was known for staunchly defending his beliefs about [[cricket statistics]]. When the [[Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians]] attempted to revise the status of many 19th century and pre-war matches, which would have produced statistics that are different from the conventional, Frindall was among those who objected to their "rewriting of history". As a result, until 2022, some ACS statistics were different from those in ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'', which is regarded as the standard. For example, the ACS awarded [[Jack Hobbs]] 199 first-class hundreds (as recorded on [[Cricinfo]]), while ''Wisden'', the generally accepted standard, gave Hobbs his "traditional" total of 197 centuries. Wisden aligned with the ACS in 2022.

More recently, when the [[International Cricket Council]] decided to award [[Test cricket|Test]] and [[One Day International]] status to the matches played for the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|tsunami]] [[World Cricket Tsunami Appeal|benefit]] and the [[ICC Super Series 2005|ICC Super Series]] between [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] and a [[Rest of the World]] team, Frindall, in common with many statisticians and historians, disputed the ruling. As a result, ''[[Playfair Cricket Annual|Playfair]]'' and other publications to which he supplied statistics did not classify those matches as official Tests or ODIs.

==Publications==
His autobiography, ''Bearders – My Life in Cricket'', was published by [[Orion Publishing|Orion]] in June 2006. Other works include the ''[[Playfair Cricket Annual]]'', which he edited for 23 years, from 1986 until his death;<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/> the ''Wisden Book of Test Cricket''; the ''Wisden Book of Cricket Records''; the ''Guinness Book of Cricket – Facts and Feats''; and the 'Cricket records' section of the ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'', which he maintained for 22 years. He was also briefly a correspondent for the ''[[Mail on Sunday]]''.<ref name="MBE"/>

==Honours and awards==
In 1998, Frindall was made an honorary [[Doctor of Technology]] by [[Staffordshire University]], for his contribution to statistics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/about_the_university/doctors/1986-2005/|title=Honorary Doctors 1986–2005|publisher=Staffordshire University|access-date=2008-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705055323/http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/about_the_university/doctors/1986-2005/|archive-date=5 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was appointed an [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] for services to cricket and broadcasting in the 2004 [[Queen's Birthday Honours]].<ref name=MBE/> He received several awards from the [[Beard Liberation Front]],<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/feb/12/bill-frindall-obituary-letter Letter to ''The Guardian''] from [[Keith Flett]], 12 February 2009</ref> including "[[Beard of the Year]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7856507.stm|title=Remembering the Bearded Wonder|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2009-02-02 | date=30 January 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090202172435/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7856507.stm| archive-date= 2 February 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Frindall was the first president of [[British Blind Sport]], a charity co-ordinating sport for the [[Blindness|blind]] and [[Visual impairment|partially sighted]].<ref name="MBE">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3798807.stm|title=Bearded Wonder honoured|last=Thompson|first=Anna|author2=Brett, Oliver|date=11 June 2004|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=2008-05-26}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Frindall was married three times. He married Maureen Wesson in 1960, and they had two sons and a daughter together. After their divorce in 1970, he was married to Jacqueline Seager in May 1970. After a second divorce in 1980, he married Deborah Brown in 1992; they had a daughter.<ref name="The Daily Telegraph"/> Away from ''TMS'' he lived in Wiltshire, latterly at [[Urchfont]] near [[Devizes]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cowen|first=Lewis|date=2 February 2009|title=Wiltshire funeral for cricket statistician Bill Frindall|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/4093146.wiltshire-funeral-for-cricket-statistician-bill-frindall/|access-date=2020-09-25|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|language=en}}</ref> and was an accomplished [[public speaking|after-dinner speaker]], telling tales of the commentary box, which often displayed his excellent powers of mimicry; he could do [[John Arlott|Arlott]] and [[Fred Trueman|Trueman]] brilliantly.<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/>

==Death==
Frindall died at the [[Great Western Hospital]] in [[Swindon]] on 29 January 2009, following a short illness after contracting [[Legionnaires' disease]] during a charity cricketing tour of [[Dubai]] with the [[Lord's Taverners]].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> He was survived by his third wife, Debbie, who used to deliver his lunch to the commentary box each day, and his four children. His funeral was held at St Michael and All Angels Church, [[Urchfont]] on 13 February 2009.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131016122623/http://www.beardedwonder.co.uk/index.html Bill Frindall's website] (archived 2013)
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/ask_bearders/ Frindall's "Ask Bearders" column at the BBC]

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Cricket scorers]]
[[Category:Cricket writers]]
[[Category:English cricket commentators]]
[[Category:British radio personalities]]
[[Category:People educated at Reigate Grammar School]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Epsom]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in England]]
[[Category:Cricket statisticians]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Surrey]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:20th-century Royal Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Surrey]]