The leading man of Leeds

Is James Anderson Englandrsquos greatest fast bowler His statisticsmdash626 wickets in 164 completed Testsmdashlend much truth to the billing But one England fast bowler may have disagreed ldquoThe Greatest Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breathrdquo that paceman once reportedly said in a lighter vein during a discussion on what to call his biographyThe lsquohersquo I am referring to is Frederick Sewards Trueman whose muchloved home ground Headingley is where India and England are doing battle in the third Test of the Pataudi Trophy seriesThe Test provides good reason to remember Trueman It is here where he played a big part in that famous 0 for 4 wickets scenario which India endured at Leeds in 1952Twentyoneyearold Trueman was making his debut as the Vijay Hazareled India batted first He didnrsquot get his preferred Kirkstall Road end and had no qualms in saying in his book Ball of Fire that his captain Len Hutton made a mistake by giving senior bowler Alec Bedser that endTruemanrsquos 389 played a part in India being bowled out for 293 to which England responded by scoring 334 The debutant got his choice of end when India batted for the second time Trueman claimed threemdashPankaj Roy Madhav Mantri and Vijay Manjrekar while Bedser got DK Gaekwadmdashall before Indiarsquos first run figured on the scoreboardTrueman played a big role in Englandrsquos series win over India that summermdash29 wicketsmdashincluding 8 for 31 inside nine overs at Old TraffordHe came into the Test match scene with quite a reputation for bowling sides out quickly He hailed from Maltby where his father worked as a miner At 16 he was invited to the Yorkshire nets at Leeds and the sight of the Headingley ground bowled him over A field which grew turnips was all he could compare it with He bowled 11 balls in the nets and hit the stumps thrice A discussion ensued between his accompanying father and two influential men in Yorkshire cricketmdashCyril Turner and George Hirst His father wouldnrsquot speak to him on the bus ride back home until the vehicle headed to Doncaster where Trueman Sr uttered ldquoItrsquos going to cost me six pounds but I donrsquot care about that Yoursquove been picked for the Federation tour and yoursquore goingrdquoMaking his Test debut in 1952 Trueman went from strength to strength picking up wickets regularly pulverising the opposition and courting controversy through his straighttalking ways and aggressive bowling For example on the 195354 tour to the West Indies he revealed that a batsman called him a White English Bastard during a tour game The batsman was threatened with serious consequences if he repeated the abuse The Caribbean batsman did and had his jaw and teeth broken with the repairs done in hospitalThere came a point when England captains feared they would not be able to handle him on tours and hence he was left out on a few occasions Trueman was intolerant temperamental but was also hauled up in cases of mistaken identity He was convinced that there was a lookalike up to some mischief all the timeThis also affected his marriage He married Enid the daughter of the former mayor of Scarborough in 1955 By 1961 Truemanrsquos marriage was in tatters As mentioned in Ball of Fire he claimed six wickets in one hour in the Leeds Test against Australia and the media called it the finest piece of fast bowling ever seen But little did they know that he had spent the previous night at the back of his car in a Leeds car park ldquowith an overcoat as a blanket arriving at the ground before anyone else so that I could have a wash and shave There had been another rowrdquoTrueman went down in history as the first bowler to claim 300plus Test wickets and he loved bowling at Headingley where he claimed 44 wickets in nine TestsIn April 1968 Trueman figured in a cyclone relief match for India Prime Ministerrsquos XI against Bombay Cricket Association Presidentrsquos XI at the Brabourne Stadium He opened the bowling with Test pacer Umesh Kulkarni who recalled Trueman spending a lot of time with him talking about fast bowling ldquoHe never gave me the impression that he was too big a name highest wickettaker in world cricket then to talk to a fast bowler who had just played for his country He was warm and generous with his time and views a lovely manrdquo Kulkarni told me yesterdayA lot of his postplaying career was spent in the commentary box and he wrote for the Sunday People Trueman was candid in print too He was an ace afterdinner speaker and some of his funny comments were not always politically correct That said he was a generous host My late cricket writer friend Ted Corbett was Truemanrsquos ghost writer for several years Tedrsquos partner Jo King told me yesterday that Ted and she were in the vicinity of Truemanrsquos Yorkshire home a few years before the cricket legendrsquos 2006 death When he learnt about this he insisted they spend some time with him ldquoFred was a oneman army as it were regaling us with stories at breakfast next morningrdquo Jo told me yesterdayIt was Ted who Truemanrsquos wife Veronica telephoned during the England v Sri Lanka ODI at Leeds so that the media would learn of her husbandrsquos passing Lung cancer claimed Truemanrsquos wicket at 75 but the dreaded C was only one of the few things Trueman succumbed toThe landscape of Headingley Leeds is much different from what it was when Trueman first stepped on its turf in the late 1940s But nothing has changed where Truemanrsquos reputation is concerned Fiery Fred he will always be I almost forgot Trueman would have been happy to see Indiarsquos present fast bowling arsenal But he would still say he was lsquoThe Greatest Fast Bowler Who Ever Drew Breathrsquomiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper