Fredrick Malcolm Francke (born 21 March 1939, in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka) is a former Australian first-class cricketer who played for Queensland.
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Batting | Right-handed batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Legbreak googly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive |
A leg spinner, Francke played for Ceylon in 1957/58, and worked and played cricket in England for several years prior to migrating to Australia. He reports having had offers to play first-class county cricket in England but chose not to because it would have been a full-time commitment requiring him to suspend his career as an accountant. He represented Queensland from 1971/72 to 1985/86, making his debut against a touring World XI side.[1] Francke dismissed Clive Lloyd twice and also took the wickets of captain Rohan Kanhai and Sunil Gavaskar. He went on to take a total of 167 career first class wickets for Queensland with an innings best of 6 for 62 against South Australia in 1974.
In a 1977 article Ian Chappell called Francke "a very steady type of spinner, with good line and length, but I can't really see him bowling out Test batsmen. As well, he is getting on in years."[2]
He appeared to have played his last game in 1980 but made a return 6 years later to play in the 1985/86 Sheffield Shield season.[3][4]
In 1975 he was part of a rebel tour of South Africa, playing for the Brian Close-led DH Robins XI.
Leading Australian spinner Ashley Mallett considered Francke to be the best legspinner in Australia during his time and was disappointed Francke never played Test cricket.[5] He had been mentioned in particular as a test chance in 1972/73[6] and 1973/74[7] and 74/75.[8]
In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by Sri Lanka Cricket, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).[9][10]
Queensland squad – Gillette Cup 1975/76 Winners | ||
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