Straight talk from a ‘spin doctor’: One of Kimberley's cricket legends speaks aout his love of the game

THE EXCEPTIONAL sports personalities from my youth are largely a forgotten bunch. The tragedy of this truth lies in the fact that these men and women played before YouTube existed. 

The score books and newspaper clippings are either destroyed or forgotten in scrapbooks packed away “somewhere”. So speaking to these legends, hearing sports stories from their lips, seems to be the only way we’ll be able to piece a fragmented history together.

History relived

Recently the cricket legends weekend saw former teammates reunited around their passion for the game and their community.

One of these legends, Cyril Fredericks, who goes by the nickname of “CP” by his historical teammates, will have to excuse me for not calling him “Dad” while I write this piece. Anyway, speaking about the reunion, CP said that what stood out for him is that despite their history not having been recorded, the old gents were content, having very few regrets. 

“We didn’t get game farms, or businesses, or lucrative coaching contracts after our playing careers,” he says. “But because we loved the game, we have the memories, and we have former teammates who are like brothers.

“For many of us, the only ‘trophies’ we have from our playing days are the creaky joints, aches, and pains,” he adds.

Spending entire Sundays under Kimberley’s scorching summer sun; I reasoned that they had to be fit to endure that. I was curious, and asked CP how they prepared for games. 

“We all had full-time jobs. Practices took place late afternoons after everyone knocked off, a few days a week, giving us a few hours before sunset to prepare for matches.”

The playing days

Asked to mention off the top of his head, his most memorable cricketing moments, and highest achievements, CP just sighs, “There are too many,” he shrugs.

“I remember getting figures of 6/1 playing against, I think it was Newtonians, in a club match one time. Next season quite a number of their players joined us at Universals.

“The thing about this match,” CP chuckles, “is that I had forgotten about the fixture, and had enjoyed a few amber nectars before the game. Afterwards, I told the losing team that my advantage was that I was so well ‘pickled’ that I could see six stumps, and could choose at will which one I could bowl at.”

CP also tells the story of how one of Kimberley’s better batsmen of the day was putting his team’s bowlers to the sword, when he was asked to bowl. 

“I bowled my first ball and he covered where he thought it was going. But the ball went the other way. My next ball – same action, same flight, but turning the other way – had him again defending the wrong line. 

“He was so confused, he missed everything, until eventually he shouted down the wicket at me, ‘Nee man CP, bowl reg!’ ” 

One of my Dad’s favourite cricket stories was about the time he bowled to an international cricketer.

“I also had the opportunity to bowl to Basil D’Olivera in a game at the CBC Backfield. This was back in the ’70s. I remember that my very first ball flummoxed him completely and he popped up a simple caught-and-bowled opportunity my way.

“Maybe I was too excited, but I grabbed too hard at the ball and it popped out of my grip.”

CP then grins. “After that Sir Basil taught me manners. As I watched him hit me all over the field, instead of feeling frustrated or ashamed, I was glad that I had put down the catch. I realised that the crowd had come to watch him bat … and I was happy I didn’t spoil their entertainment.”

Injuries and regrets from the good days

Asked about injuries, CP says that it was part of the game, but mentions one incident that he remembers well.

“I was bowling and the batsman took a quick single. Pat Strauss was at point and with that rocket in his right arm, attempted the run-out. I reached down to prevent overthrows and felt a pop. When I looked at my hand, the pinky bone was poking through the flesh. 

“What could I do? I popped the bone back into place and finished my over, before being taken to the doctor to get it stitched up. Then I went back to the field … after all we had a game on!”

Asked about regrets, CP says that there probably are, but the enjoyment of the game has buried the regrets too deep. However, he speaks about how he had introduced a classy batsman, Stan Palm, to Universals, but for a number of games, his friend Stan struggled to get going. 

“One day, however, Stan went past 50, then on to 75, and as his confidence grew, he effortlessly stroked his way into the 80s. I was beaming with pride, because the run machine that I had endorsed was finally going to justify my recommendation.

“But Stan’s son Tyrone got a ‘pen-doring’, one of those long white thorns, stuck in his heel. I took the boy home and eventuallyI managed to get the thorn out, but by the time I got back to the field, I had missed the moment … I didn’t witness Stan getting his ton.

As for batting, CP was not one for wielding the willow. But he tells the story of one day, batting as a tail-ender with a top-order maestro, Lennie DuSart, they had put on a decent partnership. Then the opposing captain brought their strike bowler on to bowl. 

“I went up to Lennie and told him that I knew that I was going to lose my wicket.

“Lennie’s advice was, ‘Just tap and run. I will back you up.’

“I did that. The first delivery I faced, I pushed at it and ran as if my life depended on it. But Lennie was casually waving me back. I was perplexed, but then I saw the umpire standing with both hands raised. 

I had just hit the terrifying strike bowler, Neil Herman, for a six. After that, my nerves settled.”

Spin bowling philosophy and method

CP’s action was unique and mysterious. Leaving his fingers, only he knew in which direction the ball was going to turn; well, he had a teammate who kept wicket who, over time, learned to read his action. Replacement keepers, however, had as hard a time as the opposing teams’ batsmen.

“I didn’t use my wrist or my hand to spin the ball. I would spin with my fingers,” CP says casually.

For the record, I witnessed this. My dad had the ability to spin a top, using only his fingers, so that it looked as if it had been whipped from a string. 

To add to his bowling arsenal, he would – in his mind – mark out three delivery points on each side of the wicket. “You can bowl the same ball with the same action, onto the same spot,” he explains, “but just by moving closer to, or further away from the stumps at the bowling end, you have six deliveries with different trajectories.

“Then you spin it the other way, vary the speed, and length, and the batsmen would always be guessing.”

Advice for today’s players

Although CP shared quite a number of other stories with me, I had to cut him short and ask if he had any advice for today’s players at club, or even higher level?

“A cricket career doesn’t last forever, but the game gets into you and your spirit remembers it,” he said. “Make the memories worthwhile, give your all. Play fair, and in this way you’ll give yourself the best chance to make the memories that will be yours, 30 or 40 years down the line, good ones.”