Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson, who passed away on Sunday aged 85, was like a meteor. The Englishman played only 17 Tests in five years and took 76 wickets at an astonishing average of 18.56.
He ‘typhooned’ his way to international fame when aged only 24 but was a spent force at 29. He started the Ashes series at Brisbane in November 1954 poorly with a horrible spell of 1-160 as Australia declared for 601 and won by an innings.
Then came a change as sudden as it was miraculous. He was unplayable in the next two Tests in Sydney and Melbourne as he captured 19-225 at an amazing average of 11.84.
What made an ‘also ran’ bowler turn into a devastatingly frightening quickie?
When on nought in the first innings of the second Test he was knocked unconscious by a bouncer from Australia’s legendary fast bowler Ray Lindwall.
That brought out the best in Tyson. He retaliated by bowling at his fastest with a shortened run-up to grab 4-45 and 6-85 as England gained a palpitating 38-run victory to level the series.
Tyson became only the fourth fast bowler from England after Harold Larwood, Kenneth Farnes and Bill Voce to capture 10 wickets in an Ashes series.
But more was to come in the next Test in Melbourne. He took nine wickets including 7-27 in the second innings, frightening the lives out of the Australian batsmen.
To quote Martin Williamson from ESPN CricInfo, “There can have been few faster spells in history than Tyson’s in that innings. He skittled the opposition, and bowling downwind off a shorter run, was literally as fast as a typhoon.”
Australia’s last eight wickets in the second innings plummeted for 34 runs, Tyson had a paralysing spell of 6-16 off 51 balls. Australia won by 128 runs to lead 2-1 in the series.
With Tyson taking 3-85 and 3-47, England triumphed by five wickets in the Adelaide Test to retain the Ashes 3-1.
There were no man of the match and man of the series awards then but Tyson would have been awarded man of the match in the second and third Tests at Sydney and Melbourne as well as the man of the series.
Tyson was born on June 6, 1930 in Lancashire but was not selected for them. So he played county cricket for Northamptonshire. In 244 first-class matches he took 767 wickets at 20.89.
Just as Tyson was the hero of the 1954-55 series another English express bowler Larwood was the hero (villain?) of the 1932-33 Bodyline series.
Coincidentally both settled down in Australia after they retired from cricket. Tyson became a headmaster for a time before coaching juniors in Victoria and Queensland, wrote columns in magazines as well as books and commentated on ABC radio and on Channel Nine television.
Both Richie Benaud, who played in the 1954-55 series, and Don Bradman, who watched him bowl, proclaimed Frank Tyson as the fastest bowler they had seen.
I never watched Tyson bowl so cannot comment on their assessment.
To me Australia’s Jeff Thomson was the fastest bowler I have seen followed closely by the West Indians Wes Hall, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose, Australia’s Brett Lee and Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.
Their speed was measured around 160km/h. Unfortunately Tyson’s speed was not measured. But if experts like Bradman and Benaud rated him as the fastest who am I to disagree with them?
But what do you think, Roarers?
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