The Society is delighted to welcome back Angus “Gus” Fraser, who first spoke to us in March 2002 just prior to his retiring from playing.
He was born on August 8th 1965 at Billinge, Lancashire, but he was educated at Gayton High School in Harrow, Middlesex. He is 6 feet 6 inches tall and he was principally a right-arm fast-medium bowler whom the cricket commentator Colin Bateman described as “a reliable, intelligent and hard-working bowler”. His brother, Alastair, also played first-class cricket.
Angus played for Middlesex from 1984 to 2002 and for England from 1989 to 1999. He played 290 first-class games including 46 Tests, plus 42 ODI’s for England. He was capped by Middlesex in 1988 and had a benefit season in 1997. He also captained his county in his last two seasons – 2001 and 2002. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1996 along with D. Cork, P. De Silva, A. Kumble and D. Reeve. Mike Selvey said, in an appreciation in Wisden, that “Fraser deals in parsimony and red-faced effort … Runs are a commodity to be hoarded, not frittered away on the undeserving”.
His 290 first-class matches yielded 886 wickets at 27.40, with a best of 8-53 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1997/98. He had Lara out 4 times running. He took 5 wickets in an innings on 36 occasions, plus 10 wickets in a match 5 times. His 46 Test matches brought him 177 victims at 27.32 with 5 wickets in an innings on 13 occasions, plus 10 wickets in a match twice.
He was the most controlled and consistent England bowler of the 1990s but a serious hip injury and confused selection policy (Ray Illingworth wasn’t supportive) prevented him playing more often. He was an old school English seamer who consistently landed the ball on or around off stump and who exploited variable bounce. His accuracy and control were reflected in his Test match economy rate of 2.66 runs per over. His finest hour, perhaps, was when he took 8-75 against West Indies at Bridgetown, Barbados on the 1993-94 tour when England inflicted West Indies’ first defeat there for over half a century!! He often looked as tired at the beginning of a spell as he did at the end. However, his commitment and passion were never in doubt – he once ran from the field in tears after England had beaten the Aussies at Melbourne.
Not long after he last spoke to us he was appointed as cricket correspondent of The Independent. He held this position until 2009. He also worked as a media pundit in this period.
In early 2007 he was appointed to the 7 man panel (along with Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight, Hugh Morris, Brian Rose and Micky Stewart), chaired by Ken Schofield, to review English cricket following the 5-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia on the 2006-7 tour. The ensuing Schofield Report made sweeping recommendations most of which were adopted and resonate even today. In January 2009 Middlesex created the new role of Managing Director of Cricket, which was taken up by Fraser in January 2009. Middlesex were Division 2 Champions in 2011 and finished a creditable 3rd in their first season in Division 1 in 2012.
So, Angus has been one of our foremost cricketers, journalists and administrators of the last quarter of a century – he will surely provide us with another evening to remember.