Frederick John Titmus

24 November 1932 – 23 March 2011

England Middlesex, Surrey, Orange Free State

Right hand bat, right arm offbreak 
First-class span 1949 – 1982

Fred Titmus can claim to be one of the few men to have played first-class cricket in five separate decades. Having briefly been on the Lord’s ground staff he became the youngest player to have played for Middlesex at that time, making his debut at the age of 16 years and 213 days. His last appearance came in 1982, when aged 42 he was a spectator for Middlesex vs. Surrey, spotted by Mike Brearley who cajoled him to take part, Titmus ended up taking 3 for 43 and helping Middlesex to win by 58 runs. 

His playing time in his initial seasons at Middlesex were restricted due to National Service. On returning to the county full-time time in 1953 he took 105 wickets, the first of 16 seasons achieving the feat. He excelled in 1955, achieving the double for the first time, taking 158 wickets and scoring 1,235 runs. 

He was selected to make his Test debut for England against South Africa in 1955 in the second Test at Lord’s but after struggling in his first two matches he was dropped, but did go on the 1955-56 non-Test tour to Pakistan. 

Despite achieving the double in every season but one from 1956 to 1962, Titmus was not selected for a Test. He made his comeback in the third and fourth Tests in1962 against Pakistan and was such a success he was named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year the following year. He was constantly in the Test team for the next five years and on the 1962-63 tour of Australia took more wickets than any other English bowler, 21 at an average of 29.33. He was also captain of Middlesex from 1965 to 1968. 

Titmus was named vice-captain on the 1967-68 tour of the West Indies, but had an accident where he caught his foot in a boat propeller and ended up losing four toes. He was able to make a comeback and played for Middlesex during the 1968 season. He did make an international appearance again until the 1974-75 tour of Australia, where he struggled and wasn’t selected again. 

He spent a brief period with Orange Free State in the mid-1970’s and following this had an unhappy spell with Surrey. He made sporadic appearances for Middlesex between 1979 and 1982, finishing with a record figures of 642 appearances and 2,361 wickets for the county.