Phillip DeFreitas
Encyclopedia
Phillip Anthony Jason "Daffy" DeFreitas (born 18 February 1966, Scotts Head, Dominica
) is a retired English
cricket
er. He played county cricket
for Leicestershire
, Lancashire
and Derbyshire
, as well as appearing in forty four Test matches
and 103 ODIs. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman
, noted that "DeFreitas was an explosive hitter when the mood took him, an aggressive pace bowler, inclined to pitch everything short and a spectacular fielder".
, where he played football and cricket
. He had trials at Luton Town F.C.
, but although offered an apprenticeship, wanted to play cricket.
DeFreitas made his first-class debut for Leicestershire
in 1985 against Oxford University
and recorded the startling bowling analysis of 3.4-2-3-3 as the students collapsed to a humiliating 24 all out. The following year he had a wonderful season, taking what was to remain a career high of 94 wickets and scoring his maiden century (at number 9) against Kent
, and he was selected for the successful Ashes
tour in 1986/87. He remained part of England's plans until the advent of Dominic Cork
in the mid-1990s, but was generally much less successful abroad than at home. His two best Test series were in 1991 against West Indies
and, in 1994, against New Zealand
, when he took 22 and 21 wickets respectively. His top Test score of 88, during which he hammered Craig McDermott
for 42 runs off three overs with the new ball, helped England to a win against Australia in Adelaide
, and earned him the Man of the Match
award. DeFreitas was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1992.
Most would probably agree that DeFreitas never quite reached the heights his early promise suggested he would attain. In one-day internationals, DeFreitas seldom let England down - but bowled more economically than penetratively until his second Australian tour. In the World Series Cup that season, DeFreitas was often punished by the powerful Australian top order particularly Dean Jones
. He performed creditably despite a persistent groin strain in the World Cup of 1992 but form was beginning to desert him by this stage.
He was notoriously thrashed all over the ground by Sanath Jayasuriya
in the 1996 World Cup quarter final - by no means alone - in a game where England were thrashed and ended up making their tournament exit.
In test cricket, DeFreitas was one of many at the time expected to prove themselves on a sporadic basis. While his batting was thought to have helped his cause, in truth, he was often exposed with the bat. His bowling in tests often suffered from the assets which made him a good one-day operator - economy but no penetration.
Rather than berate DeFreitas for not making the most of his undoubted talent, it is probably fairer to remember the era in which he played - particularly his early career. These were the days in which young bowlers were expected to perform for England and then toil away on the county treadmill immediately afterwards. As an aspiring all-rounder, DeFreitas's workload would have been almost never ending as he would be playing 3 day games, 4 day games, one day games and ODIs and tests for his country. This is perhaps one reason why cricketers of DeFreitas's "type": David Capel
, Chris Lewis
, Derek Pringle
for example did not last very long at the top level.
In the course of his 21 seasons in first-class cricket
, DeFreitas had a somewhat nomadic county career, playing for Leicestershire from his debut in 1985 until 1988, then Lancashire
from 1989 to 1993, and Derbyshire
from 1994 to 1999. In 2000, he returned to Leicestershire, averaging
over 45 with the bat that season, and captained the side in 2003 and part of 2004. He also played for the South Africa
n side, Boland
, in 1993/94 and 1994/95.
DeFreitas announced in April 2005 that he would retire from cricket at the end of that season, meaning that had England not beaten the Australians
that summer, there would be no remaining Englishmen in first-class cricket who had played in a victorious Ashes side, but this did not happen. On hearing the news, Mike Gatting
, who had captained that 1986/87 team, told the BBC
: "He's one of those guys you want in the game. It's sad he's going to retire but he's been good for the game." DeFreitas has the honour of being the 100th player in Test cricket
to take 100 wickets.
in January 2009, under the school's director of cricket, Frank Hayes
. He now teaches at Magdalen College School, Oxford
.
Scotts Head, Dominica
Scotts Head is a village on the southwest coast of Dominica, in Saint Mark Parish. As of 2001, its population was 721. Predominantly a fishing village, Scotts Head overlooks Soufrière Bay, which is protected as the Soufrière Scotts Head Marine Reserve...
) is a retired English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He played county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
for Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
, Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
and Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
, as well as appearing in forty four Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 103 ODIs. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman
Colin Bateman
Colin Bateman is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.Born in 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 to join the County Down Spectator as a "cub" reporter, then columnist and deputy editor...
, noted that "DeFreitas was an explosive hitter when the mood took him, an aggressive pace bowler, inclined to pitch everything short and a spectacular fielder".
Career
DeFreitas went to Willesden High School, in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he played football and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. He had trials at Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
, but although offered an apprenticeship, wanted to play cricket.
DeFreitas made his first-class debut for Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
in 1985 against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
and recorded the startling bowling analysis of 3.4-2-3-3 as the students collapsed to a humiliating 24 all out. The following year he had a wonderful season, taking what was to remain a career high of 94 wickets and scoring his maiden century (at number 9) against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
, and he was selected for the successful Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
tour in 1986/87. He remained part of England's plans until the advent of Dominic Cork
Dominic Cork
Dominic Gerald Cork is a former English cricketer. Cork is a right-handed lower-order batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium, and is renowned for his swing and seam control. Making his début in first-class cricket for Derbyshire in 1990, he was selected to play for England in 1992, aged 21. He...
in the mid-1990s, but was generally much less successful abroad than at home. His two best Test series were in 1991 against West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
and, in 1994, against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
, when he took 22 and 21 wickets respectively. His top Test score of 88, during which he hammered Craig McDermott
Craig McDermott
Craig John McDermott is a former Australian cricketer. He is currently the bowling coach for the Australian cricket team....
for 42 runs off three overs with the new ball, helped England to a win against Australia in Adelaide
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
, and earned him the Man of the Match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
award. DeFreitas was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1992.
Most would probably agree that DeFreitas never quite reached the heights his early promise suggested he would attain. In one-day internationals, DeFreitas seldom let England down - but bowled more economically than penetratively until his second Australian tour. In the World Series Cup that season, DeFreitas was often punished by the powerful Australian top order particularly Dean Jones
Dean Jones
Dean Jones is the name of:*Dean Jones , an Australian cricketer*Dean Jones , an American actor*Dean Jones , the singer of Extreme Noise TerrorSee also:*Jones...
. He performed creditably despite a persistent groin strain in the World Cup of 1992 but form was beginning to desert him by this stage.
He was notoriously thrashed all over the ground by Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Teran Jayasuriya is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. An all-rounder, he played for the Sri Lankan cricket team from 1989 to 2011...
in the 1996 World Cup quarter final - by no means alone - in a game where England were thrashed and ended up making their tournament exit.
In test cricket, DeFreitas was one of many at the time expected to prove themselves on a sporadic basis. While his batting was thought to have helped his cause, in truth, he was often exposed with the bat. His bowling in tests often suffered from the assets which made him a good one-day operator - economy but no penetration.
Rather than berate DeFreitas for not making the most of his undoubted talent, it is probably fairer to remember the era in which he played - particularly his early career. These were the days in which young bowlers were expected to perform for England and then toil away on the county treadmill immediately afterwards. As an aspiring all-rounder, DeFreitas's workload would have been almost never ending as he would be playing 3 day games, 4 day games, one day games and ODIs and tests for his country. This is perhaps one reason why cricketers of DeFreitas's "type": David Capel
David Capel
David Capel is a former English cricketer, who played for Northamptonshire and England...
, Chris Lewis
Chris Lewis
Chris Lewis may refer to:*Chris Lewis , retired professional tennis player*Chris Lewis , Aboriginal Australian rules footballer with the West Coast Eagles...
, Derek Pringle
Derek Pringle
Derek Raymond Pringle is an English former Test and ODI cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.He was educated at Felsted School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.-Life and career:...
for example did not last very long at the top level.
In the course of his 21 seasons in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
, DeFreitas had a somewhat nomadic county career, playing for Leicestershire from his debut in 1985 until 1988, then Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
from 1989 to 1993, and Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
from 1994 to 1999. In 2000, he returned to Leicestershire, averaging
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
over 45 with the bat that season, and captained the side in 2003 and part of 2004. He also played for the South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n side, Boland
Boland
Boland is a Irish surname . It may refer to:-People:Boland is a surname of Irish origin. The name refers to:*Adam Boland , Australian television personality...
, in 1993/94 and 1994/95.
DeFreitas announced in April 2005 that he would retire from cricket at the end of that season, meaning that had England not beaten the Australians
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
that summer, there would be no remaining Englishmen in first-class cricket who had played in a victorious Ashes side, but this did not happen. On hearing the news, Mike Gatting
Mike Gatting
Michael "Mike" William Gatting OBE is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988...
, who had captained that 1986/87 team, told the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
: "He's one of those guys you want in the game. It's sad he's going to retire but he's been good for the game." DeFreitas has the honour of being the 100th player in Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
to take 100 wickets.
After cricket
As well as irregular television appearances, DeFreitas was made a cricket master of Oakham SchoolOakham School
Oakham School is a British co-educational independent school in the historic market town of Oakham in Rutland, accepting around 1,000 pupils, aged from 10 to 18, both male and female, as boarders and day pupils . The Good Schools Guide called the school "a privileged but unpretentious and...
in January 2009, under the school's director of cricket, Frank Hayes
Frank Hayes (cricketer)
Frank Charles Hayes is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests and six ODIs from 1973 to 1976...
. He now teaches at Magdalen College School, Oxford
Magdalen College School, Oxford
Magdalen College School is an independent school for boys aged 7 to 18 and girls in the sixth form, located on The Plain in Oxford, England. It was founded as part of Magdalen College, Oxford by William Waynflete in 1480....
.
External links
- Phillip DeFreitas at Cricket Archive