Is it true that the first mention of Fiery Fred Trueman in the Wisden Almanack describes him as a spin bowler? asks Geoff Matthews
Embarrassingly, it is true. Fred Trueman made his first-class debut against Cambridge University at Fenner's in 1949, and the match report announces that "Yorkshire gave a trial to three young players, Lowson, an opening batsman, Close, an allrounder, and Trueman, a spin bowler". Whoever wrote that match report couldn't have been watching the game very closely, as Trueman bowled the first over of the match, and took his first wicket with a bouncer that the batsman fended to square leg. At least the Almanack's overall review of Yorkshire's season – one in which they shared the County Championship with Middlesex – got it right, and called him "a newly found fast bowler". Incidentally, all three of those young trialists had played for England by the end of 1952.
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