| Fred Titmus' Test career looked to be over when he lost several toes
after catching his foot in boat's propellor while swimming during the
West Indies tour of 1968, but he fought back and provided some of the
staunchest England batting against Lillee and Thomson during their
terror season of 1974-75. Titmus made his debut against South Africa in
1955, but then lost his place until the Pakistan series of 1962. He
became first choice spinner on Dexter's Ashes tour of 1962-63, taking
7-79 at Sydney in the first visit there and 5-103 on the second. He
scored 59 not out in Adelaide. He scored 52 not out against West Indies
at Lord's in 1963, and 84 not out in Bombay, batting at number four for
M.J.K.Smith's illness-raddled team. He took 6-73 in Kanpur. A last
minute injury to Edrich saw him opening the batting with Boycott in the
first Ashes Test of 1964. He took 5-66 against South Africa in Durban in
1964-65, 5-19 against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965 and 5-83
against West Indies in Manchester in 1966. Fred scored 59 against South
Africa at Lord's in 1965, 60 against Australia at Brisbane in 1965-66,
and 65 against Pakistan at the Oval in 1967. On his unexpected recall in
1974-75 he scored 61 in Perth after the innings had been wrecked by
Thomson on a lightning fast wicket. He took four wickets in Melbourne.
Titmus made his Middlesex debut in 1949, and played in every decade
until the 1980s, making his last appearance when Mike Brearley spotted
him amongst the spectators and persuaded him to play on a spinning
wicket. Titmus was captain of Middlesex from 1965-68. (Bob Harragan) |
Titmus published his first autobiography Talk of the Double in 1964.[5] It was typical of the anodyne cricket autobiographies
of the period and revealed that he was born in Somers Town and that his family moved to Kentish Town in 1939.
In his second autobiography, My Life in Cricket published in 2005, he was rather more forthright in his views of
former playing colleagues, and depicted five decades of his playing career with passion.
He also served as an England test selector from 1994 to 1996.
Fred Titmus died on 23 March 2011, aged 78, after a long illness. He was married twice, firstly to Jean and he was
survived by his second wife, Stephanie. He left three children Dawn, Mark and Tandy.