Перси Джордж Герберт Фендер: Англияның крикетшісі және капитаны

English cricketer

Percy George Herbert Fender (22 August 1892 – 15 June 1985) was an English cricketer who played 13 Tests for his country and was captain of Surrey between 1921 and 1931. An all rounder, he was a middle order batsman who bowled mainly leg spin, and completed the cricketer's double seven times. Noted as a belligerent batsman, in 1920 he hit the fastest recorded first class century, reaching three figures in only 35 minutes, which remains a record as of 2021. On the basis of his Surrey captaincy, contemporaries judged him the best captain in England. As early as 1914 Fender was named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year. After war service in the Royal Flying Corps he re established himself in the Surrey team and became captain in 1921. His captaincy inspired the team to challenge strongly for the County Championship over the course of several seasons, despite a shortage of effective bowlers. Alongside his forceful though sometimes controversial leadership, Fender was an effective performer with bat and ball, although he lacked support as a bowler. From 1921, he played occasionally in Tests for England but was never particularly successful. Despite press promptings, he was never appointed Test captain, and following a clash with the highly influential Lord Harris in 1924, his England career was effectively ended. Further disagreements between Fender and the Surrey committee over his approach and tactics led the county to replace him as captain in 1932 and to end his career in 1935. A very recognisable figure, the amiable Fender was very popular with his team and with supporters. Cartoonists enjoyed caricaturing his distinctive appearance, but he was also well known outside cricket for his presence in bohemian society. In addition to his cricket career, Fender worked in the wine trade, had a successful career in journalism, and wrote several well received books on cricket tours. He continued working well into the 1970s, even after going blind. He died in 1985 at the age of 92.

Fender was the elder son of Percy Robert Fender, the director of a firm of stationers, and Lily, née Herbert. Born in Balham, Surrey, in 1892, he was encouraged to play cricket by his mother's family who were involved in Brighton club cricket, and from the age of eight he attended cricket matches to watch Sussex when visiting them. First educated at St George's College, Weybridge, then at St Paul's School, London,

At St Paul's, Fender began to attract attention as a cricketer. Awarded his school colours in 1908, he remained in the school team for three years. scoring a century in one match against Bedford School. In the same game, he was criticised by his schoolmaster for bowling lobs. Fender's success led to his selection for a representing Public Schools XI against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's. His success for St Paul's continued in 1910, but his school career came to an abrupt end following an argument between his father and the High Master of the school. The dispute concerned a cricket match which Fender had played without parental permission, and his father was unhappy that cricket was taking precedence over academic studies. Fender was removed from the school immediately; he still came top of the batting averages for 1910 but although selected, he was not allowed to play at Lord's that summer as he was no longer a schoolboy. Despite his successes, St Paul's cricket masters did not consider him a reliable cricketer; he was criticised for taking too many risks when batting and for experimenting with too many different styles while bowling. Fender's biographer, Richard Streeton, observes that "Fender's experiments were frowned upon from his earliest days but  already there was never any shortage of ideas in his cricket thinking." When he left school in 1910, he attracted the interest of the club and, after success in both local cricket and second team matches, he made his first class debut on 21 July as an amateur in Sussex's County Championship match against Nottinghamshire. In the two games, Fender scored 19 runs and took one wicket. After the 1910 cricket season, Fender worked in a paper mill in Horwich, Lancashire, to experience paper manufacturing—his father's line of business—at first hand. While feeding paper into a machine, his left hand was trapped in the mechanism and injured. Three of his fingers were crushed at the tips; upon healing, they remained stiff and numb for the rest of his life. Fender remained in Horwich at the start of the 1911 cricket season and played several times for Manchester Cricket Club. He was on the verge of selection for Lancashire when he had to return to Brighton. That season he played twice for Sussex; the following year, in his second match for the county, he scored his maiden first class century, against Oxford University. He followed this by taking five for 42 (five wickets taken and 42 runs conceded) against Surrey. After these successes, Fender played regularly for the remainder of the 1912 season. In total, he scored 606 runs at an average of 24.24, and, bowling medium pace, took 16 wickets at an average of 25.50. In 1913, Fender was a regular member of the Sussex county side. In the first two months of the season, he made a considerable impact; in 21 innings with the bat, he scored six fifties and one century. His reputation as an exciting, big hitting batsman grew quickly, and he was chosen in the representative Gentlemen v Players matches at Lord's and The Oval. His performances for the Gentlemen, a team of amateurs, were unsuccessful, and the failure affected his form for the rest of the season. To aid his business career, Fender moved to London during the winter of 1913–14. Fender was qualified by his birthplace to play for Surrey, and the county was eager to register him for the County Championship. By the end of the 1914 season, Fender had convinced his father that he could successfully combine cricket and business. As a player, Fender quickly made an impact for Surrey. He took a hat trick in his second game, and scored a century in his fifth, to establish his popularity with the Surrey crowds. During the season Fender scored 820 runs, often very quickly, and took 83 wickets including some through experimenting with leg spin bowling. According to Wisden his worth was measured by more than figures: "As a match winning factor he is a far greater force on a side than his records would suggest." The season ended prematurely because of the outbreak of war in August 1914. Surrey had by then established a commanding lead in the County Championship table, and as their nearest challengers had no objection, the MCC declared them as county champions.

Immediately following the cancellation of county cricket in 1914, Fender enlisted in the army, joining the Inns of Court Regiment. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, Fender found he disliked the routine and regimentation of army life, thinking it tedious. With the help of the cricketer Pelham Warner, who worked in the War Office, in 1915 he was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, which was more to his sense of adventure. Fender was initially stationed in London, where he was involved in work repelling Zeppelin attacks, before being sent to India in 1916. However, soon after his arrival, he became seriously ill with dysentery, possibly cholera and several other diseases. He returned to England to recover but was left weak for much of the following two years. Army doctors were unsure what exactly was wrong with Fender and he remained in their care until 1918. He played some charity cricket in 1917 and 1918, but did not return to light duties with the Royal Flying Corps until the latter year. Just as he seemed to have recovered fully, he fractured his left leg in five places playing football at the end of 1918. He remained on crutches throughout the remainder of 1918 and 1919, missing the resumption of county cricket in 1919.|alt=A cricketer leading his team off the field watched by a crowd]]
Surrey's official captain for 1920, Cyril Wilkinson, missed much of the 1920 season and was unavailable for the opening matches. As the only amateur in the team who was expected to play regularly, Fender was appointed as captain in Wilkinson's absence. Years later Fender stated that he had found the situation embarrassing, as he realised there were better qualified professional players who could have been appointed instead. He led the team to victory in his first two matches in charge, and ten of his first twelve games. Wilkinson resumed the leadership at several points during the season, but his return in the final weeks coincided with a poor run of results. He consequently withdrew for two crucial games, and allowed Fender to captain the side. That year Surrey had few effective bowlers; Fender was the leading wicket taker with 109 wickets in County Championship games. In all first class matches he took 124 wickets at an average of 21.40 to reach 100 wickets in a season for the first time. Several games were won by Surrey after Fender used unorthodox methods to force the pace. In addition, Fender's batting and bowling performances swayed several games in Surrey's favour. Surrey finished third in the County Championship, but lost their final match, against Middlesex, when a victory would have made them champions. Surrey needed 244 to win but Fender's instruction to his batsmen to attempt to score quickly had an adverse effect, and he later blamed himself for the defeat. Nevertheless, his optimism and inventiveness were appreciated by his teammates and he was appointed permanent captain by the club for the following season. Against Northamptonshire in one of the last games of the 1920 season, In total, he scored 113 not out and shared a partnership of 171 runs in 42 minutes with Alan Peach. Although acknowledged to be a fast innings, Fender's century was not recognised as a record at the time; cricket records were not widely kept or studied, and other innings were believed to have been quicker. Surrey went on to win the match.

During the MCC tour of Australia, England lost every game of the five match Test series. Fender played infrequently and with little success during the early part of the tour. Douglas rarely used him as a bowler, and for the first Test, he was omitted from the team at the last minute and was twelfth man. He was eventually selected for the third Test; Jack Hearne was unavailable owing to illness, and Fender had recently been successful in a tour game. The tour manager Frederick Toone had suggested that Fender should replace Douglas as captain, an idea which had the support of two of the team's leading professionals, but Douglas refused. Fender made his Test debut on 14 January 1921 but achieved little with bat or ball, He dropped a catch from Charles Kelleway, who went on to score 147 runs. Nevertheless, Fender retained his place in the team for the remainder of the series. In the fourth Test, he took five for 122, and achieved five for 90 in the fifth and final game. He led the English Test bowling averages with 12 wickets at an average of 34.16, and was the only England spin bowler to make the ball turn on the hard Australian pitches, though he was not particularly accurate. With the bat, he scored 59 in the fourth Test and passed 40 in two other innings. Fender was barracked several times by the crowds when reports reached Australia of his newspaper columns; occasionally, the crowds chanted "Please Go Home Fender", making a play on his initials. Fender made light of this, joining in by conducting the barrackers. In subsequent tours, the MCC forbade cricketers from writing about matches in which they were playing. On his way home, Fender wrote an account of the tour which was published as Defending the Ashes. However, he did not elaborate on his own opinions, and left out any controversy. The Australian team joined the MCC cricketers on the journey to England, to play a further five Tests in 1921. Fender began the season poorly and was not picked for the first three Tests, all of which were won by Australia. The England selectors tried 30 players in the course of the summer, many of whom critics did not consider to be of suitable quality. Fender began to take wickets consistently in the middle of the season, and scored a century in the Gentlemen v Players match, so he was chosen for the fourth Test. The game was drawn, affected by rain. Fender scored 44 not out and took two for 30 in the game. The final match was also a rain ruined draw; Fender retained his place but had little success. He later said that he learned a great deal from Warwick Armstrong's captaincy of the Australians. Several of Surrey's victories were very close, and had come after Fender declared. Fender took the brave decision to include a lob bowler, Trevor Molony, in three games; lob bowling had practically died out from first class cricket by this time, and Molony was the last specialist underarm bowler selected in county cricket. But Molony met with fairly limited success and faded out of cricket. Owing to the lack of penetrative alternatives, Fender had to use his own bowling frequently, and often conceded many runs. Wisden said he was generally effective with the ball and described his slip fielding as "dazzling", but suggested that perhaps his best batting came for teams other than Surrey.

Fender completed the double in 1922 with 1,169 runs and 157 wickets, Despite damp weather which did not suit his style, he bowled more than his share of overs, often because there were few alternative bowlers. Wisden said: "Essentially a change bowler [one who bowls while the main bowlers are rested]—the best in England, as he has been aptly described—he became by force of circumstances the chief attacking force". Wisden praised his inspirational captaincy, and concluded: "Over and above all this he was, by general consent, by far the best of the county captains, never losing his grip of the game and managing his side with a judgement that was seldom at fault." There were no Tests in 1922, but Sydney Pardon wrote that Fender was the only amateur who could be guaranteed a place on ability alone in an England team. had noticed that Jeacocke's qualification had lapsed when he moved across the border from Surrey to Kent, albeit living on the same road. Fender, privately furious with Harris, publicly defended Jeacocke, and the press supported him; the rules were altered the following season to allow Jeacocke to continue to play for Surrey. Fender was chosen in the MCC team to tour South Africa in 1922–23, but despite support from journalists, he was not chosen as captain. Frank Mann led the team; his appointment was criticised in the press, which judged him to lack playing ability and suggested that the selectors favoured those associated with Lord's—Mann was Middlesex captain. Mann appointed Fender his vice captain on the journey to South Africa, but played every match on the tour to leave Fender with no opportunity to lead the side. and laid over a surface which may have been sand, grass, soil or gravel. However, his best bowling performance according to his teammates came in the second Test, when he took four for 29 on the first day; all the South Africans found it difficult to bat against him, and he later described it as one of the best bowling spells of his career. He played in all five Tests, scoring 128 runs at an average of 14.22 and taking 10 wickets at 41.80, while in all first class games, he scored 459 runs at 22.95 and took 58 wickets at 19.58. At that time it was usual for amateurs and professionals to enter the field of play from different gates; Fender's habit was to use the same gate as his professionals. This brought a rebuke for Fender from Lord Harris, who said: "We do not want that sort of thing at Lord's, Fender".

Fender's form dipped in 1924 after a good start with bat and ball; thereafter, despite occasional successes, he lacked consistency. Surrey finished third in the Championship, and Fender contributed 1,004 runs and 84 wickets in all first class matches. which again speculated why Fender was not chosen. Fender's prospects of leading England receded further when he clashed once more with Lord Harris. The MCC had rebuked two county committees for covering their pitches prior to matches against the South Africans during a spell of wet weather. Fender pointed out in a letter published by the press that Lord Harris and the MCC were aware that this was common practice at the Scarborough Festival, despite their claims to the contrary. When Fender next played at Lord's, the furious Lord Harris summoned Fender to admonish him. Fender always regretted his indiscretion and believed it finished any chance he had of the England captaincy. Fender played in the first two Tests, without much success, and was dropped; he played only one more Test in his career. Gilligan was injured during the series, but the selectors recalled Douglas as captain rather than select Fender. When the team to tour Australia that winter was chosen, Fender was not selected, a decision which upset him deeply. Fender was married at the end of the 1924 cricket season, and in the off season wrote about the MCC tour of Australia for the Daily Express. completing the double with 1,042 runs and 137 wickets. In the view of the press, Fender remained a potential England captain for the Ashes series in 1926, but Arthur Carr was chosen. In his survey of England cricket captains, Alan Gibson suggests that Fender and Carr were the only two realistic candidates by that time—other county captains either lacked the skill to play Tests or had already been tried and discarded. When Carr was dropped before the final Test, the journalist Home Gordon reported that a "certain amateur"—Gibson suggests this must have been Fender—was waiting by the phone for news that he was to captain England. In the event, Percy Chapman took over for the final match and England regained the Ashes. However, Streeton believes that by this stage, Fender was never likely to be chosen;

In the following seasons, Surrey dropped steadily down the Championship table. The following two seasons were his best with the bat; in 1928, he scored 1,376 runs at 37.18, his highest average in a season, and in 1929 he scored 1,625 runs, his highest run aggregate. By that season, Surrey had fallen to tenth in the table. but was not convinced by his ability at the time. Bradman came to England with the Australian touring team in 1930, and was extremely successful; Fender played fewer matches than in previous seasons, as he was writing on the Tests for a newspaper; in the 1930 season, he scored 700 runs and took 65 wickets. His success, and the manner of it, concerned the English authorities, and Fender among others believed that success against Bradman was to be found in adopting new tactics. Fender passed this information on to his Surrey colleague Douglas Jardine, who was later named England captain for the MCC tour of 1932–33. Over the following months, Australian journalists kept Fender informed of developments in batting in that country, information which he passed on to Jardine. Jardine later conceived the strategy of Bodyline, where fast bowlers bowled at the batsmen's leg stump, frequently pitching the ball short and hitting him. The tactic was contentious, and created much ill feeling between the players. Fender did not cover the tour as a journalist, as his newspaper sent Jack Hobbs instead. However, during the tour Jardine wrote to inform Fender that much of his information had been correct and that he was adapting his tactics accordingly. Fender later insisted that his role was minor in creating the strategy, but he was close to both Jardine and Arthur Carr, who discussed the plans before the tour began; some writers suggested that the original idea was Fender's. Fender scored 916 runs and took 84 wickets that season. A series of other controversial incidents further antagonised the committee. As a result, Fender was dismissed in January 1932, a move rumoured in the press for some time and which was quickly leaked. It is likely that the uncertainty arose because Jardine took his time in accepting the position. Fender supported Jardine's appointment, and pledged to continue playing under his captaincy. He scored over 400 runs in each season between 1932 and 1935 and scored two centuries in that time, both in 1933. Prior to the 1936 season Holmes suggested to Fender that he should play fewer games for Surrey that year. Rather than do so, Fender preferred not to play at all, and he informed the committee that he would no longer represent the county. The committee publicly thanked Fender, but the reasons for the sudden termination of his county career are unclear; rumours suggested that some factions at Surrey wanted Fender out of the club. In the event, Fender played two first class matches in 1936, captaining MCC teams against Oxford and Cambridge universities; these were his final appearances in first class cricket. In all first class matches, he scored 19,034 runs at an average of 26.65, and took 1,894 wickets at 25.05. During the Second World War, Fender joined the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Wing Commander. He worked in southern England with a responsibility for moving men and equipment, and was mentioned in dispatches for his role in preparations for the Allied invasion of Europe. Later, he was posted to various parts of the world in his role in movements. In the 1920s, Fender was approached four times to stand for Parliament as a Conservative Party candidate and declined each time. In the late 1970s, Fender became blind, and moved in with his daughter, although continuing to run his business. He travelled to Australia in 1977 to attend celebrations that marked 100 years of Test cricket and was the oldest man there. In his final years, he moved into a nursing home and died there on 15 June 1985. Among his favoured shots were the drive, pull and cut. Other than his 35 minute century, he played many innings in which he scored quickly, His googly was more of a top spinner and he was adept at using flight and dip, with many of his wickets being bowled or caught behind the wicket. He gripped the ball differently from most wrist spinners, using his thumb and first two fingers, and would attempt any kind of unorthodox delivery if he thought it might be effective. a tactic he would often try when the batsman was playing defensively. Fender's love of experimentation and his surprise variations made him difficult for batsmen to face, but produced inconsistent results and he sometimes conceded many runs. This appearance made him a favourite of cartoonists generally, Teammates and opponents praised his captaincy skills, and described him as the best they had known. His Times obituary stated: "[Fender] was a sharp captain, quick to observe the slightest opportunity of advantage and ready to gamble on his ability to exploit it. His keen eye for weakness in an opponent and ability to extract and employ the best powers of his own players caused him often, and with reason, to be described as the best county captain who never captained England. No more flexible thinker on cricket ever lived." Prior to Fender, few county captains displayed tactical imagination; Fender inspired his teams to play forceful, entertaining cricket which made him and his Surrey team very popular. One of his favoured approaches was for the batsmen in the lower middle order to hit out at the bowling, no matter the state of the match; if successful, the team either quickly consolidated a position of strength or regained the initiative if earlier batsmen had failed. Fender also used non regular bowlers in an attempt to unsettle batsmen. His innovative approach included the introduction of caps with larger peaks to shade his players' eyes from the sun, and he recruited a baseball coach to improve their throwing. Although often a candidate in the press to captain England, Fender was never chosen to do so. Rumours circulated at the time about the reasons. One suggestion was that he was overlooked because he was Jewish, but Fender said he was not Jewish and in any case did not believe this would have been a problem. Other purported reasons included that he had not been to Oxford or Cambridge, and that he was in the wine trade, which was considered an unsuitable career for a gentleman, but in later life Fender dismissed these as potential factors. Opponents recalled other uses of time wasting tactics, deliberate damaging of the pitch by Surrey players to assist their bowlers, and intimidation of both the opposition and umpires. According to E. W. Swanton: "While always highly popular with the teams he led, his relations with the Surrey authorities were also apt to be difficult." and stopped the practice of separate lunches and teas. Fender's proposals shocked senior cricket figures, The deeply conservative cricket establishment may also have resented Fender's unorthodoxy on the cricket pitch. According to Wisden, Fender's limited success at Test level "may have saved the selectors, who were thought never to favour him as a captain of England, an embarrassing problem". He later wrote regularly for the Evening News and The Star; The Times described Fender as "an astute critic of the game" whose accounts were "well observed and analytical".

Fender worked for his father's stationery business, including periods spent in France and Belgium, up until the outbreak of war in 1914, After the Second World War, he had to rebuild his wine firm, which had suffered from wartime trade restrictions and hardships, this time assisted by his son. He and Robert also established a paper merchants called Fender Brothers, although he later relinquished his shares in the company. Meanwhile, he maintained his connections with Crescens Robinson and followed his father as chairman of the company from 1943 to 1968. The press closely followed the flamboyant Fender's activities in his personal life, reporting his attendance and activities at dances, the theatre, horse races and shooting. As such, he had a high profile, and was easily recognisable to the general public. In September 1924, he married Ruth Clapham, a well known figure in society and the daughter of a Manchester jeweller, whom he had met in Monte Carlo in 1923. The couple had two children; Ruth died suddenly in 1937 from Bright's disease. Fender remarried in 1962, but his second wife, Susan Gordon, died in 1968.

Fender was played in the Bodyline miniseries by John Gregg. The series represents Fender as a bon viveur who had a considerable influence on the young Douglas Jardine, and is seen as epitomising an English establishment disdain for Don Bradman on his emergence as a Test cricketer. The series appears to exaggerate Fender's reluctance about giving up the captaincy of Surrey for Jardine.