Editing Fred Root

{{Short description|English cricketer}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Fred Root
| image = Fred Root.jpg
| country = England
| fullname = Charles Frederick Root
| height =
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|4|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Somercotes]], Derbyshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|1|20|1890|4|16|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Wolverhampton]], England
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm fast-medium
| role =
| family =
| international     = true
| testdebutdate     = 12 June
| testdebutyear     = 1926
| testdebutagainst  = Australia
| lasttestdate      = 24 July
| lasttestyear      = 1926
| lasttestagainst   = Australia
| club1 = [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club|Derbyshire]]
| year1 = [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1910|1910]]–[[Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1920|1920]]
| club2 = [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]]
| year2 = 1921–1932
| columns           = 2
| column1           = [[Test cricket|Test]]
| matches1          = 3
| runs1             = –
| bat avg1          = –
| 100s/50s1         = –
| top score1        = –
| deliveries1       = 642
| wickets1          = 8
| bowl avg1         = 24.25
| fivefor1          = 0
| tenfor1           = 0
| best bowling1     = 4/84
| catches/stumpings1= 1/–
| column2           = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches2          = 365
| runs2             = 7,911
| bat avg2          = 14.78
| 100s/50s2         = 1/23
| top score2        = 107
| deliveries2       = 80,614
| wickets2          = 1,512
| bowl avg2         = 21.11
| fivefor2          = 125
| tenfor2           = 33
| best bowling2     = 9/23
| catches/stumpings2= 244/–
| date = 11 July
| year = 2010
| source = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/451/451.html CricketArchive
}}

'''Charles Frederick Root''' (16 April 1890 – 20 January 1954) was an English [[cricket]]er who played for [[English cricket team|England]] in 1926 and for [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club|Derbyshire]] between 1910 and 1920 and for [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] between 1921 and 1932.<ref>[http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/451/451.html Fred Root at CricketArchive]</ref>

== Early career ==
Root was born in [[Somercotes]], Derbyshire and initially served on ground staff of [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] before beginning his first-class career for Derbyshire, making his debut in the [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1910|1910]] season.<ref name=obit>[http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155509.html Wisden Fred Root]</ref> He played for five seasons for [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club|Derbyshire]] before cricket was suspended in England because of [[World War I]], doing very little apart from a couple of promising performances in 1913. During the war, Root was hit in the chest while serving as a dispatch rider, but recovered and resumed his cricketing career after the war.

== Worcestershire ==

Root moved to [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] in 1921 after two seasons in league cricket. After a season and a half when he failed to establish himself as an orthodox right-arm [[fast bowling|fast medium bowler]], Root became an exponent of the [[leg theory]] style of bowling, and achieved great success with it. His ability to swing the ball in and make it gain pace off the ground made him very difficult on anything like a fiery pitch, whilst his powerful physique and consequent stamina made Root respected even on pitches giving bowlers no assistance. In 1923 he took 170 wickets for 20.53 each and 153 for less than 17 each in 1924, but spoilt his chances of going on that winter's [[Ashes series|Ashes tour]] with a poor performance for the Players at [[The Oval]] on a pitch that should have suited him.

His character may be summed up by an event in a match against [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]]. The batsmen, [[Arnold Dyson]] and [[William Bates (cricketer)|Eddie Bates]], had collided mid-pitch, and the ball was returned to Root, the bowler. Root didn't break the stumps, as both batsmen seemed injured. An amateur repeatedly shouted, "Break the wicket, Fred, break the wicket!" until Root said: "If you want to run him out, here's the ball: you come and do it." The amateur responded with the words, "Oh, I'm an amateur. ''I'' can't do such a thing."<ref>Haigh, Gideon: ''Silent Revolutions: Writings on Cricket History'' 9781845132262</ref>

== England selection ==

Although Worcestershire were entering a period where they were the weakest of the County teams, Root's tireless, accurate and lively bowling only improved. In 1925, he took a record 207 wickets for the county, almost half of Worcestershire's wickets in first-class matches. During the late 1920s, Root was effectively the team's only penetrative bowler.

In 1926, Root took 7 for 42 against the Australians on a pitch so dead as to be quite unsuited to him. Though he was less effective than previously in county cricket (soft pitches may have played a part), Root played three [[Test cricket|Test match]]es for [[English cricket team|England]] against [[Australian cricket team|Australia]] that year. Unusually, he was unable to bat in any of the three tests, due to rain interruptions and the depth of the England batting. Root still holds the record for the most Test Matches in a career without ever batting.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walmsley|first=Keith|title=Mosts Without in Test Cricket|year=2003|publisher=Keith Walmsley Publishing Pty Ltd|location=Reading, England |isbn=0947540067|pages=457}}</ref>

== Later years  ==

In 1927, Root took 145 Championship wickets as the County won only one of thirty fixtures. The batsman's pitches of 1928 resulted in an expensive yield though he did achieve the double for the only time in his career. Root's 146 wickets in 1929 was almost triple the next best return by his teammates. In 1931, he took 9 for 23 against [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]], representing the best bowling ever achieved for Worcestershire.

Root declined rapidly in 1932 and lost his place. Apart from one match for Sir L Parkinson's XI in 1933, Root retired from first-class cricket after this. He spent some time as coach to [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]], and also continued to play [[club cricket]] in the Lancashire League. He also remained a keen observer of the international game, and was unimpressed by Australian protests against [[Bodyline]], saying that their players should stick to playing with tennis balls if they could not learn how to play it. Root also wrote a well-known book about the life of professional cricketers, ''A Cricket Pro's Lot'' (1937).

== As an umpire ==

Root stood as an [[umpire (cricket)|umpire]] in 35 first-class matches between 1947 and 1949.

== Bowling method ==

After Root joined Worcestershire, he changed his bowling style to deliver fast-medium in-swingers with a leg trap of up to five fielders.<ref name=obit/> An illustration appears in the 1926 Cricketer of this employed against Australia. There is speculation that it may have influenced the thinking of [[Douglas Jardine]] when he was contemplating the use of [[bodyline]] against [[Don Bradman]]. Current regulations render this illegal.

Root died in a [[Wolverhampton]] hospital in 1954.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, Fred}}
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:Derbyshire cricketers]]
[[Category:England Test cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Worcestershire cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricket umpires]]
[[Category:People from Somercotes]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Players cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricketers of 1919 to 1945]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]
[[Category:North v South cricketers]]
[[Category:Sir L. Parkinson's XI cricketers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Derbyshire]]


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