Bill Frindall (1939-2009)

Really sad news this, The Bearded Wonder has died aged 69. Thanks for so many incredible facts, and so much fantastic banter. RIP Bearders.


From the BBC website.

Bill Frindall had worked for the BBC for 43 years. BBC Test Match Special statistician and scorer Bill Frindall has died at the age of 69 after suffering from Legionnaire's disease. Known as 'Bearders' and also dubbed 'the Bearded Wonder' by commentator Brian Johnston, Frindall was the longest serving member of the TMS team.

He joined the BBC in 1966 and wrote several statistical cricket books, editing the Playfair annual since 1986. Frindall was appointed an MBE in 2004 for his services to the sport.

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said: "He brought scoring alive. This is what Bill will always be remembered for. He brought to life this weird and wonderful world of cricket scoring that other people might find tedious and boring. He made scoring into an art form.

He had this incredible scoring system that made every ball an event. If you referred back to something that had happened earlier in the day, he would know exactly which delivery you would be talking about. And if you had a query on a statistic, he would have the answer in seconds, his records were so meticulous."

Long-serving former TMS producer Peter Baxter said: "Bill was part of the family. TMS has been a family for a long time - I first set foot inside a commentary box in 1966, he was there then and he was certainly there when I retired from it in 2007.

He would occupy his corner of the commentary box and woe betide anyone who tripped over and made a mess of any of his papers. He liked to check and be careful but he'd written most of the record books himself so he knew where to look - he'd probably have a shrewd idea of the answer but he just wanted to make sure in that meticulous scorer's way - he knew what he was looking for and knew it inside out.

He could be quite serious, he had an impish sense of humour, very dry and quite laconic, but the great thing about him was phenomenal powers of concentration which he said he'd learned in RAF, where he did national service. Then he extended it working in Nato command centre in Fontainbleau, during that time he really learnt concentration. He could get up from his desk, walk to the back of the box and pour himself coffee while three balls were bowled, but he'd always know exactly what had happened and record it. We trusted him to the extend that if he said scoreboard was wrong, we'd go with him not the scoreboard - his MBE was a real tribute to his service."

England and Wales Cricket Board managing director Hugh Morris added: "Bill Frindall was renowned for the sheer breadth of his knowledge and the deep and lasting affection he had for the game of cricket itself.

He will be much missed not only by millions of radio listeners worldwide but also by the fraternity of cricketing scorers in England and Wales whose work he did so much to champion. On behalf of the many past and present England players who considered him a good friend, I would like to send our condolences to his family."

Former England fast bowler Mike Selvey spent more than 20 years alongside Frindall on the TMS team, and said: "He was a broadcasting legend, without necessarily being a broadcaster. He took one of the most mundane jobs in cricket and made himself an institution. And having worked with him for so long, I was extremely fond of him."

Frindall wrote a regular column for the BBC Sport website, and latterly the TMS blog, in which he invited readers to 'Stump the Bearded Wonder'. A huge variety of questions on cricket statistics, records, laws of the game and a number of other more quirky incidents came in regularly from when it began on 16 May 2001 until it finished 185 editions later in January 2009.