Tich Is The Legend That Ashes Forgot

Richard Edwards tells the tale of an England Ashes legend who earned hero status despite playing just 12 times for his country

- Richard Edwards

As Nathan Lyon worked his magic on a wearing fifth day pitch at Edgbaston last week, it’s likely that a former England spinner would have been looking down rather approvingly.

Lyon’s wickets took his career tally to 352 Test scalps – 286 more than total recorded by a bowler who is still widely recognised as one of English cricket’s greatest craftsman.

Alfred Percy Freeman, or ‘Tich’ as he was universally known, could have re-written the Test record books. Instead, the man of Kent had to make-do with cutting a swathe through county lineups for almost two decades while England looked the other way.

It was August 17, 1929 when Freeman ran out for his country for the final time, taking to the field for Arthur Carr’s England against South Africa at the Oval. His previous two Test appearances against the tourists had seen him take 22 wickets – 10 at Leeds and 12 at Old Trafford – as England sprinted into a 2-0 series lead.

At the Oval, though, Freeman toiled without reward for 49 wicketless overs that went for 169. Extraordinarily, given everything that had gone before, it turned out to be his final Test appearance. Ninety years on, it’s a decision as unfathomable today as it was back in 1929.