Eoin Morgan's brilliant century against Pakistan in July prompted the cricket media to refer to FL Fane as "the only other Irishman to score a Test hundred for England." It would probably be more exact to describe FREDERICK LUTHER FANE as having been Irish born.
As the son of a distinguished British army officer and of aristocratic background - he was a cousin of the Earl of Westmoreland - besides claiming descent from William the Conqueror, his reaction to being called Irish as he was born in the country, might very well have been the same as that of the first Duke of Wellington, also a cricketer when told that his birth made him Irish, "Damn sir, " said the Iron Duke, " if I was born in a stable, I wouldn't be a horse." Nevertheless Fred Fane's story is well worth telling.
One morning in May 1956 an elderly man opened his newly arrived Wisden - the Almanac published rather later then - and turned to the Obituaries section to see which of his contemporaries had survived the attentions of the Grim Reaper. He was somewhat surprised to read a 650-word notice, which began, "FANE Mr FREDERICK LUTHER who died on December 9 1954..." Fred Fane put down the yellow backed tome and rang the Editor, Norman Preston, to assure him that he was very much alive!
He had been born at The Curragh Camp in Co Kildare on 27 April 1875, the son of Captain Frederick John Fane of the Gloucestershire Regiment, a soldier who was stationed in various parts of Ireland for several years and found time to play plenty of cricket. He was a useful batsman appearing in the upper order in Phoenix, for whom he once top scored against a strong I Zingari attack, NICC and Na Shuler sides. He was, indeed, in the Shulers' XI against North in 1866 in the first match ever played at Ormeau. Adding 87 for the second wicket with JN Coddington, Ireland's first captain, he was one of the few batsmen on either side to make any impression on a dubious wicket.
The previous year he had batted at 3 for XXII of Ireland against the United South of England XI at Rathmines, but had been caught behind for a duck off James Lillywhite, later to lead England in the first ever Test match. Fane also played a few matches for Essex before they became first class. He retired from the Army as a colonel and died in 1923, not, however, before he had foreshadowed his son, by reading his own obituary!
Young Fred, sometimes known as Freddie, may have some coaching from the Colonel, but his cricket really blossomed at Charterhouse School in Surrey, whose perfect wickets were later to produce Peter May. There, Fred developed his "attractive front foot style" and was three years in the X1. One of his best innings being 95 against arch rivals Winchester in 1894.
The following summer he made his debut for Essex for whom he was to play until 1922, though his post war appearances were spasmodic. He went to Magdalene College, Oxford leaving school and won a blue, as an opening bat in 1897 and 1898, but his form was rather disappointing. He failed in both years against Cambridge and did not manage to register a century. For Essex however, tall, dark haired and, though prematurely balding, heavily moustached, he scored 12,599 runs at 26.50, including 18 of his 25 first class hundreds. Two of these were doubles.
In 1899 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, he made 207, an innings which Wisden described as "grandly played." Adding 235 for the second wicket with Percy Perrin, one of the best batsmen but worst fieldsmen ever to represent the county, he hit one 5 and twenty-seven 4s, setting up an easy victory. He bettered this in the long hot summer of 1911. Facing Surrey on an Oval shirtfront he made 217. "A great innings," said Wisden, "batting five hours and a quarter and making very few mistakes, he was ninth man out." He captained Essex from 1904 to 1906, but disliked the job and was only too pleased to hand it over to the young JWHT Douglas.
Douglas was later to captain England and to blaze a trail for Andrew Flintoff by losing the Ashes 5 - 0 Down Under. In the latter year, Fred led the county to an 18 run victory over the Australians. He ended the match with a most unusual catch. Never a very good field, he had positioned himself at the old fashioned position of long stop. This was allegedly to stop byes as the visitors closed on their target, but may well have been to hide himself! Australian all rounder and player-manager, Frank Laver played a shot, which can only be described as a "Prototype Dilshan." Fred stood firm and held the skyer on the boundary edge.
That summer he also returned to his native land, leading the county against Dublin University at College Park. Fred made a first innings 68 in an easy victory, the home batsmen, apart from JT Gwynn and the captain Charles Fawcett being no match for Douglas bowling hostile fast medium.
Fred fell the same way in both innings, caught by Fawcett off paceman John Lynch. Both fielder and bowler were to lose their lives in the First World War.
Fred was never quite good enough to play for the full strength of England at home, his 14 Tests all coming on overseas tours. The first two such visits he made, however, were two venues where Test Matches were not yet played.
In 1901-02, he joined an all-amateur side led by RA Bennett on a tour of the West Indies. He made two 50s on the tour which was dominated by all rounders BJT Bosanquet and ER Wilson.
He was off again the following winter on the first ever full tour of New Zealand in a side dubbed Lord Hawke's XI but led by PF Warner, as Hawke was unable to go for family reasons. Fred finished second to Warner in the averages with 552 runs at 42.46. He hit 124 in the first of the two "Unofficial Tests" against New Zealand, "A fine innings", according to Warner, and made four other scores of over 50.
In 1905-06 he toured South Africa with MCC, again under Warner's captaincy. The team, which was to play five Tests, was of average county strength, but found the South Africans, on their own matting wickets, a very different proposition from previous encounters. Using four googly bowlers - including the future Woodbrook professional AEE Volger - the hosts won the series 4-1.
Fred was one of the visitors few successes with the bat. On the whole tour he made 607 runs at 37.83, while in the Tests he hit 342 at 38. This included a "superb" (Warner) 143 in a losing cause in the Third Test, besides piloting his side to victory with an undefeated 66 in the Fourth. In 1907-08 he was vice captain to Arthur Jones of Nottinghamshire on MCC's Australian tour.
Jones missed the first three Tests through illness pitch forking a reluctant Fred into captaincy. He lost the first Test by 2 wickets, then, making a stalwart 50 himself, won the second by one wicket. Thereafter however, both he and England declined with the hosts emerging victors by 4-1. His captaincy came into question in the first match because of his reluctance to bowl great slow left armer Wilfred Rhodes, who growled, "I must be in the side for my singing!"
However Fred did ignore Jones' sickbed protests to bring a young Surrey opener into the team for the Second Test. They put on a first innings 58 for the first wicket, the debutant making 83. His name was Jack Hobbs!
Fred scored over 700 runs on the whole tour with centuries against Western Australia and New South Wales. He also represented "England" at football against the former side, joining Hobbs in the forward line. They won 3-2, the "England" side playing in their whites and cricket boots. An idea for Senor Capello?
Fred's last tour was again to South Africa in 1909-10. HDG "Shrimp" Leveson-Gower (pronounced Lewson-Gore) was captain but stood down for the last two Test Matches, forcing an unwilling Fred once more into captaincy. The series was lost 3-2, but Fred did have the satisfaction of leading England to victory in the final match. Unfortunately his batting form deserted him, the googly men accounting for him in six of his nine innings. On the whole tour he managed only 346 runs at 20.35 with a solitary half-century, 70 v Natal.
In the First World War he served in the West Yorkshire Regiment with great bravery and distinction. He reached the rank of captain, won the Military Cross and two mentions in dispatches. He returned but briefly to cricket after the conflict. His last match for Essex was in 1922 against, appropriately considering his birth, Dublin University at Brentwood. He made 13, caught behind by fellow holder of the MCC AP Kelly off the pace of medical student Charles McCausland. He did not bat again as the county had an easy innings victory.
In 1938 he married 25-year-old Edna May Meads. He was 63. They had two daughters, the younger born when Fred was 77!
Frederick Luther Fane died on 27 November 1960. On this occasion Wisden considered him worth a mere 58 words.
Copyright: Cover Point
