Frank Holmes Tyson (6 June 1930 – 27 September 2015) was an England international cricketer of the 1950s, who also worked as a schoolmaster, journalist, cricket coach and cricket commentator after emigrating to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press, he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricketKilburn, p. 242.http://www3.sympatico.ca/qhokim/players/tyson.htm. p65-66, Clive Batty, The Ashes Miscellany, Vision Sports Publishing, 2006.Tom Graveney with Norman Giller, The Ten Greatest Test Teams, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988. and took 76 wickets at an average of 18.56 in 17 Test matches.
In 2007, a panel of judges declared Tyson Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for 1955 due to his outstanding tour of Australia in 1954–55 where his 28 wickets (20.82) was instrumental in retaining the Ashes. Tyson coached Victoria to two Sheffield Shield victories and later coached the Sri Lankan national cricket team. . He was a cricket commentator for 26 years on ABC and Channel Nine.
Early life Tyson's mother was Violet Tyson (born 1892) and his father worked for the Yorkshire Dyeing Company, but died before his son was selected for England.p253, Tyson As a boy he played cricket with his elder brother David Tyson, who served in Australia during the war; at school he practised his run-up on the balcony.
He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Middleton, and studied English literature at Hatfield College, Durham University
As a university graduate, Tyson was unusual among professional cricketers in the 1950s. He was a qualified schoolmaster and used to read the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf on tour. Instead of sledging batsmen he quoted Wordsworth: "For still, the more he works, the more/Do his weak ankles swell". He completed his National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals in 1952 as a Keyboard Operator and Cypher. Sportsmen were generally retained on headquarters staff and he played cricket for his platoon, squadron, regiment, area command and the Army.p31, Frank Tyson, The Cricketer Who Laughed, Stanley Paul, 1982 He served at the Headquarters Squadron 4 Training Regiment where he controlled the movements of men transferring in and out of Catterick, but not very well. He abhorred guns and when he took his rifle training he made sure that he always missed the target. In 1952–53 he worked felling trees, which John Snow regarded as an excellent exercise for developing the muscles of a fast bowler and attended Alf Gover's East Hill Indoor School for cricketers. In 1954–55 Gover covered the Ashes tour as a journalist and advised Tyson to use the shorter run-up from his league cricket days, which proved to be a turning point in the series.
Early cricket career 1952–54 Before he became a professional cricketer Tyson played for Middleton in the Central Lancashire League, Knypersley in the North Staffordshire League, Durham University and the Army. Although invited for trials by Lancashire at Old Trafford he was turned down 'because he dipped at the knee', so he qualified for Northamptonshire in 1952 through residence. Tyson made his first-class debut against the Indian tourists in 1952, after his first ball the slips moved back an extra five yards and his first wicket was that of the Test batsman Pankaj Roy for a duck.Willis & Murphy, p. 89. Tyson's second first-class match was against the Australians in 1953. Richie Benaud was told that the unknown Tyson was a bowler fresh out of Durham University who would give them no trouble. They began to revise this estimation when they saw the wicket-keeper take position halfway to the boundary and young Tyson walked over to the sightscreen to begin his run up. The first ball ricocheted off the edge of Colin McDonald's bat to the boundary, the second trapped him lbw before he could play a stroke, the third was a bouncer that flew past Graeme Hole's nose and the fourth was a yorker that clean bowled Hole and sent his stumps cartwheeling over the wicket-keeper's head.p183, Bird, 1999. In 1954 at Old Trafford Tyson hit the sightscreen with the ball after it bounced once on the pitch. He is one of only four bowlers to have achieved this feat in the history of the game, the others being Charles Kortright, Roy Gilchrist and Jeff Thomson.. and he was given his county cap in the same year, his first full first-class season. Tyson reckoned that he received his Test call up when ex-England captains Gubby Allen and Norman Yardley saw him hospitalise Bill Edrich at Lords. Edrich, a noted hooker of fast bowling, mistimed his stroke due to the speed of the ball and his cheek bone was broken. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were thereby convinced of the speed and hostility of Tyson's bowling and decided to take him to Australia.p8, Tyson He was selected to play for England against Pakistan at the Oval in 1954, taking 4–35 and 1–22 and making 3 runs in each innings batting at number eight, but Pakistan won the match by 24 runs thanks to the bowling of Fazal Mahmood. Although he batted at number eleven in league cricket "The Middleton groundsman was a fatalist. He used to start up the roller to refurbish the wicket when I went in to bat".p126, Frank Tyson, The Cricketer Who Laughed, Stanley Paul, 1982 Tyson worked on his batting and in 1954 "was building up a reputation as an all-rounder, scoring consistently with the bat",p19, E.W. Murphy (ed), Official Souvenir Programme, Australian Tour of the M. C. C. Team, 1954–55, An Official Publication of the New South Wales Cricket Association, 1954 and he batted at number seven for England. However, this did not develop as much as expected and he reverted to being a lower-order batsman.
Tour of Australia and New Zealand 1954–55
First Test vs Australia at Brisbane Tyson was chosen for the MCC tour of Australia in 1954–55, seen as a replacement for Fred Trueman who was controversially left behind. Freed of rationing Tyson increased his weight from to within a month of leaving the UK.p12, Tyson Hutton won the toss, put Australia in to bat and watched England drop 14 catches as Australia made 601/8 declared. Tyson was hit for 1/160 off 29 eight ball overs and England lost by an innings and 154 runs. Even so, Tyson hit Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey repeatedly with the ball and they were badly bruised. More to the point he bounced Ray Lindwall after the Australian all-rounder knocked several boundaries off the fast bowler on his way to 64 not out. Tyson also managed to run out Graeme Hole and made 37 not out in the second innings, which remained his highest Test score.
Second Test vs Australia at Sydney Taking advice from his old coach Alf Gover, who was in Australia as a journalist, Tyson stopped using his laborious 38-yard run up and returned to a shorter run up used in league cricket with ten short then ten long final strides. With this he took 4/45 in the first innings, described vividly by Margaret Hughes: "Harvey received a beast of a ball from Tyson which spat up at him and splashed off his bat to Cowdrey". Ray Lindwall had bowled Tyson for a duck in the England first innings and was bounced again, so in the second innings the Australian fast bowler took his revenge:
"He let me have a very fast, short-pitched delivery...Instinctively I turned a defensive back on the ball which skidded through and hit me a sickening blow on the back of my head. I sank to the ground and as I slipped in and out of consciousness, I was dimly aware of the players gathering round my prostrate body. Indistinctly I heard my fellow batsman Bill Edrich saying: 'My God, Lindy, you've killed him!'...I was very, very angry with Ray Lindwall. And the whole of the Aussie team knew it...I would return the bouncer with interest!"Frank Tyson, In the Eye of the Typhoon.
Players did not wear protective helmets in the 1950s and he had to be helped off the field with a large bump on his head that was visible from the stands. He was taken to hospital for x-rays, but returned to loud applause only to be bowled by Lindwall for 9. The Australians needed 223 to win, but were afraid that Tyson would send down a barrage of fast, short-pitched bowling, but he was intelligent enough to bowl full-length deliveries that caught them unprepared.p131-132, Frank Tyson While Brian Statham bowled "up the cellar steps"p295-296, E. W. Swanton (ed), The Barclays World of Cricket, Collins, 1986. and into the wind Tyson tore down the slope from the Randwick End with "half a gale"p89, Swanton, 1977 behind him and bowled "as fast as man has ever bowled".David Frith, p421, Pageant of Cricket, The Macmillan Company of Australia Ltd, 1987. He took 6/85 in the innings and 10/130 in the match to give England a 38 run victory. The Australian captain Arthur Morris told the newspapers "Such fine bowling deserved to win".p134, Frank Tyson, In the Eye of the Typhoon. Peter Loader told Tyson, "you bowled like a 'Dingbat'" and the nickname 'Dingers' stuck".p135, Frank Tyson, In the Eye of the Typhoon.
Third Test vs Australia at Melbourne The Third Test cemented the "Typhoon" reputation. He took 2/68 in the first innings and at the end of the fourth day Australia needed 240 to win and were 75–2, with Tyson on 1/11. Over 50,000 Australian fans came on the fifth day to see Neil Harvey and Richie Benaud knock off the remaining 165 runs, but what they got was 'the fastest and most frightening sustained spell of fast bowling seen in Australia'. as Tyson took 6/16 off 6.3 overs from the Richmond End. His 7/27 in the innings was his best Test innings analysis, the best by an England bowler in Australia since Wilfred Rhodes took 8/68 in 1903–04 and has not been bettered since. Australia added only 36 runs, were dismissed for 111 and England won by 128 runs. The game finished well before lunch and the caterers were left with thousands of unsold pies when the crowd deserted the ground.
Fourth Test vs Australia at Adelaide The Ashes were decided at Adelaide, Hutton cunningly changing his bowlers to mix the pace of Tyson and Brian Statham with the spin of Bob Appleyard and Johnny Wardle. Tyson took 3/85 and 3/47 as Australia fell for 111 in the second innings to lose the Test by five wickets and the series 3–1. It was the first time England had won a series in Australia since 1932–33, they would not win another until 1970–71.
Fifth Test vs Australia at Sydney Despite three days lost to rain, an aggressive England team almost made it 4–1. Tyson took 2/45 and 0/20 as Australia followed on, needing 32 runs to make England bat again with only four wickets left. Tyson had taken 28 wickets in the series at 20.82 and was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1956. Stokes McGown, a Botany Bay Sports Goods manufacturer made autographed cricket balls in his honour; ironically 'The Typhoon' ball was good for swinging, unlike its namesake.p205, Tyson
First Test vs New Zealand at Dunedin After Australia, England toured New Zealand, who had yet to win a Test match. Tyson took 3/23 and 4/16 in the First Test as New Zealand were dismissed for 125 and 132 and England won by 8 wickets despite making only 209/8 declared in their first innings.
Second Test vs New Zealand at Auckland In this extraordinary Test Tyson took 2/41 in the New Zealand first innings of 200. When he joined Len Hutton on 164/7 the home side looked like getting a first innings lead and one gentleman even booked a flight to Auckland in the hope of seeing New Zealand's first Test victory.p328 The World of Cricket, Willow Press, 1986. Hutton told Tyson to "Stick around for a while Frank, we may not have to bat again", a prediction that Tyson later thought verged on second sight. He did hang round a bit and made 27 not out in England's 246. New Zealand spectacularly collapsed and were out for 26 to lose by an innings and 20 runs, the lowest completed score in Test cricket, Tyson taking 2/10 in the debacle.