Bill Farrimond

William Farrimond (23 May 1903 – 15 November 1979) was an English cricketer who played in four Tests from 1931 to 1935.^[1][2] He was born and died at Westhoughton, Lancashire.

Bill Farrimond was widely regarded in the late 1920s and across the 1930s as the second-best wicketkeeper in English first-class cricket, but the man regarded as the best was his Lancashire colleague George Duckworth – and for many years both of them were kept out of the England team by Leslie Ames, who was a much better batsman.^[2] The result was that Farrimond played only a handful of county matches each season from 1925 to 1937 before, on the retirement of Duckworth, he finally played two full seasons in 1938 and 1939.

Despite being second-string wicketkeeper at Lancashire, Farrimond played four Tests. In 1930-31, he was picked as second wicketkeeper to Duckworth on the tour to the South Africa, and played in two matches when Duckworth was injured.^[2] Four years later, he toured the West Indies and played one Test, with regular keeper Les Ames playing just as a batsman in that match. His only home Test match was the game at Lord's in 1935 against South Africa, when Ames again played as a batsman only.

An unobtrusive wicketkeeper, unlike Duckworth, Farrimond was the second wicketkeeper, after Tiger Smith, to make seven dismissals in an innings, then the world record.^[2] A useful lower-order batsman, his one century came playing for the Minor Counties side.

He played one first-class match in 1945, a friendly "Roses" match, but at 42 years of age, he did not play again when regular cricket resumed after the Second World War.

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