Profile of Roy Fredericks by Dr.A.K.Hignell - Hon Statistician and Historian to Glamorgan CCC

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Player:

RC Fredericks

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Roy Fredericks was Glamorgan`s first Test player from the West Indies. The left-hander from Guyana had made his Test debut on West Indies tour to Australia in 1968/69, before joining Glamorgan in 1971.

 

Fredericks had a successful first season with Glamorgan, amassing 1,377 runs, and beginning his Glamorgan career with innings of 66 and 145* against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. He displayed an adventurous approach to opening the batting, and his cavalier strokeplay delighted the Welsh crowds with his cavalier strokeplay. An example came at Swansea in the Sunday League fixture with Yorkshire when he made 84 off 88 deliveries, with seven sixes and eight fours.

 

After a modest start to 1972, Fredericks struck a rich vein of form in the second half of the season, hitting 228 against Northamptonshire at Swansea, and sharing a record opening partnership of 330 with Alan Jones. This was followed by 126 against Middlesex, to take his average in his final six innings of 1972 to 123. In 1973 Fredericks was a member of the West Indian tour party, and he made only a handful of appearances for the county. This proved to be his final summer with Glamorgan, as they opted instead for an overseas pace bowler to spearhead their attack in 1974.

 

Fredericks continued to play Test cricket for the West Indies and in 1975 was in their team which won the first World Cup. He later joined the World Series Cricket team in Australia in 1977/78, and continued playing for Guyana until retiring at the end of the 1982/83 season. He has since followed a career in politics, serving as Minister of Sport in Guyana, as well as being a West Indian selector.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2000 Dr.A.K.Hignell)