Ashes Heroes No 46: Frank Tyson

Our weekly series of essays on the men who made the Ashes continues and after Richie Benaud last week it is back to an Englishman and the young fast bowler who came from nowhere to shock Australia Down Under.

The dictionary defines a typhoon as a violent storm and Frank "Typhoon" Tyson certainly battered Australia in 1954-55, bowling faster than anyone had done since Harold Larwood 22 years earlier or possibly since. It was the first time since Larwood's Bodyline tour that England had won a series Down Under and Tyson's 28 wickets at an average of 20 proved crucial.

Of course in Tyson's day there were no accurate speed measurements. A study at the New Zealand Aeronautical College in 1955 measured Tyson at 89mph, although apparently he had not warmed up or indeed changed into his whites for the experiment. He claimed that he could bowl at more than 110mph although that could be taken with a grain of salt. Either way, he was nippy.

In later life, Tyson paid little stock by TV speed guns. "I have always maintained the only true judge of a bowler's speed is the batsman," he said. So over to Arthur Morris, one of the finest batsmen to wear the baggy green. According to Morris, Tyson was "through you almost before you had picked up your bat". Richie Benaud has said that Tyson was the quickest bowler he ever saw. More importantly, given that he had faced Larwood, Don Bradman was of the same view, although he was retired by that tour.

Tyson was born in Lancashire but played all his county cricket for Northamptonshire. Unusually for a professional cricketer (this was in the days when professionals and amateurs had separate changing rooms), Tyson was a university graduate. He had read English literature at Durham and served in the Army before making his county championship debut in 1953. A year later he took 78 wickets in the summer at an average of 21 to earn a call-up for the Oval Test with Pakistan, in which he took five wickets, and then that winter's Ashes tour.

There was little evidence in the first Test, at Brisbane, of what was to follow. Len Hutton won the toss, put Australia in and saw them rack up more than 600 (it wouldn't be the first time that would happen to an England captain in Brisbane). Tyson bowled 29 eight-ball overs and took one wicket (Benaud) for 160.

Things changed at Sydney, though, and much like with Devon Malcolm against South Africa 40 years later, a blow to the head fired up Tyson. Ray Lindwall, Australia's own speedster, pranged Tyson on the bonce, knocking him out, left. When he returned, he was a man transformed. Bowling off a shorter run-up, which made best use of his power, Tyson took four for 45 and six for 85 as Australia, set 223 to take a 2-0 lead in the series, were skittled for 184.

In the third Test at Melbourne Tyson went one better, taking seven for 27 in the second innings as he scythed through the Australia order by sheer pace. Twice the batsman was bowled before he could bring his bat down. England won by 128 runs. Next match, Tyson took three in each innings as England won by five wickets to claim the series. The final Test was drawn.

This was no mean Australian batting side with Morris (career average 47), Neil Harvey (48) and Keith Miller, the great all-rounder who averaged 37 with the bat and 23 with the ball, in the top six. But on hard pitches, Tyson was unplayable. He went on from there for two Tests in New Zealand and took 11 wickets for 90 runs. But a spate of injuries, as happen to many great fast bowlers, restricted his career.

He would play only nine more Tests after the 1954-55 tours, finishing his career with 76 wickets at an astounding average of 18.56. His highlight after winning the Ashes was taking six for 28 in 22 overs at Trent Bridge against South Africa, but he played only four more Ashes Tests, taking four wickets. The typhoon had blown hard and blown fast but like all typhoons he blew himself out in the end.

Interestingly, like Larwood, the man who terrorised Australia but then went to live there, Tyson also emigrated Down Under, becoming a headmaster in Victoria. He was also a respected commentator and writer on the game and a couple of years ago produced the acclaimed In the Eye of the Typhoon, his book on that momentous series.

Comments

[ivan]

as a boy i saw frank tyson play for the mcc on the adelaide oval in 1954
against south australia.his run up went almost back to the picket fence!les favell handled him with ease.i couldnt see the ball side on from the wicket he was so fast.

[Tony Eaton]

In 1955-6, aged 12, I watched Tyson bowl at Newlands. His accelerating run-up and great rearing-up pre-delivery stride gave him the most dramatic action of any fast bowler I have ever seen, but I also remember well the huge 6 he hooked off a Clive van Ryneveld leg-break that ended among the railway-lines well beyond the western boundary. The cherry on the top was when he and Tony Lock came to speak at my school, Rondebosch Boys' High. He was good-humoured, approachable and fascinating, and I vividly remember his demonstration of how you scowl at the batsman over your lifted left arm in the delivery stride -- no chest-on bowling there. Sadly, I think his back was already starting to trouble him -- but how he blazed when he was at his peak!

[Makarand Waingankar]

Further to my earlier post, what made Frank a great coach was his mentoring. He coached bowlersin India with tremedous affection. At the National Cricket Academy he was conducting Level II and III coaching courses which every Test player wanted to attend. Balwinder Singh Sandu who knocked off the off stump of Gorden Greenidge in the 1983 Worls Cup finals said if Frank had been around when he was playing he could have done that consistently. Can someone tell me why ECB didn't use Frank when we in India welcomed him for past 18 years.

[David Littlewood]

As a lad I saw Tyson play many times for Northampton. I remember once shaking his hand - I don't think I washed it for a week! Though past his prime he was still really quick. He once bowled Johnny Wardle, the Yorkshire spinner, with a ball so fast it broke the stump. As Wardle walked off, one of the members asked him: 'Good ball, Johnny?' to which Wardle repled, "Don't know - I never saw it!'

[John Silk]

In his first class debut he played for his county against the 1952 Indian Tourists. His first ball was nicked and too fast for first slip to catch. For his second ball the slips and wkt keeper retreated a further six or seven yards. The batsman again nicked the ball and was caught at slip. The 'Typhoon' had arrived.

[mark edwards]

As a schoolboy I saw Tyson at Northampton open the bowling against the touring South Africans (McGlew etc)with all remaining 10 team mates in an arc behind the wicket.Truly awesome!! he also coached us in the evenings as prospective under 15 Northants players bowlig very quickly from a standing position onto a wooden floor.I never saw the ball.What was he like in a real match? The fastest bowler ever; bless him & the memories.

[Makarand Waingankar]

Frank has been working with Indian cricketers and coaches since 1990 and i have been one of the fortunate ones. The indians really learned adout coaching and fast bowling from Frank. Amazing man with tremendous passion for the game and he is nearing 80. WELL DONE FRANK .

[Christopher]

I still remember, as a 12 year old, watching Tyson opening the bowling in a match the touring MCC played against Rhodesia in 1956.

No sooner had the ball left Tyson's his hand than it was in the hands of the ebullient Godfrey Evans, the wicketkeeper. I don't think the batsman even saw the ball!!

[Peter McGuinness]

I think Frank was easily the best commentator Channel Nine ever had. Like Richie, he rarely drossed on about himself and was always extremely educational in his comments. He was humourous, without being crude and never biased in any way shape or form.

Channel Nine was insane not to have moved heaven and earth to keep him, considering the clowns they persisted with for 30 years.

I wish I'd seen him play. Apparently, that terrifying series after his blow to the head was the prototype of the Ashes mayhem caused by Lillee and Thomson in later years.