Fred Bakewell

Who was Fred Bakewell?

Fred Bakewell was a Northamptonshire and England opening batsman who was renowned as one of the most exciting players of his time, largely owing to his unorthodox methods, which allowed him to play some of the most brilliant innings in county cricket, despite the fact that his county, Northamptonshire, was exceptionally weak throughout his career: he was always the only class batsman in the team in the years before his career was ended by a serious car accident in 1936.

His stance was perhaps the most "two-eyed" known in the history of the game, with his right shoulder typically turned so far round as to be facing mid-off, and he gripped the bat with the hands at the extreme ends of the handle. Such a stance would naturally lead to a defensive player who only had strokes on the leg side and would be dull and ugly. Bakewell, however, owing to his superb footwork and amazing dexterity in moving the bat, could and did easily place himself far wide of the leg stump for a ball on off stump. This allowed Bakewell to produce some of the most remarkable strokes, such as cutting sharp off-breaks pitched on middle stump and difficult hooks of short-pitched balls.