Bill Ferguson

Who was Bill Ferguson?

William Henry Ferguson BEM is one of the best known cricket scorers. For 52 years from 1905 until his death, Ferguson acted as the scorer and baggageman for Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand in 43 tours and 208 Test matches.

He is often credited with two of the most revolutionary innovations in scoring. He developed the radial scoring chart which show the directions in which a batsman scored his runs. Originally called Ferguson's charts, they are now popularly known as 'wagon-wheels'. He was also believed to have introduced the linear system of scoring which, unlike the conventional system, keeps track of the balls faced by a batsman and off a particular bowler. Ferguson was preceded in the linear system by an Englishman named John Atkinson Pendlington, who used his scoring system at a match against the Australians played in Scarborough in 1893 after which he presented his record to W. G. Grace, who was said to be much amused.

He received the British Empire Medal in 1951. He published his autobiography Mr Cricket a few months before his death.