Bill Frindall - R.I.P.

DMC

The Bearded Wonder has gone off to score the great Test match in the Sky.

Cricket mourns death of Frindall
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7861363.stm

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. The weird world of cricket scoring to many people is incredibly dull but Bill made it interesting, he made it lively.

"He was immortalised by Brian Johnston, who called him "The Bearded Wonder" because you could throw any question at Bill, any fact or figure and with great relish he would know it, he would find the answer."

TrueDub

Very sad news.

Bill was actually meant to be in Dublin tonight, speaking at the LCU&SA annual dinner in the Russell Court. We heard earlier in the week that he was gravely ill and unfortunately the worst has happened.

He'll be missed.

djimi

RIP The Bearded Wonder

I was genuinely upset to hear the news about Bill, he was one of the absolute legends of the game of cricket. Very much a contributor to the magic of Test Match Special, its hard to imagine a test match without him throwing in an unapproving word when they veer off-topic too far, or coming out with some mind boggling stat that only he could ever find. In all of sport I cant imagine there has ever been a statistician of his calibre, and few can ever claim to have his seemingly endless knowledge of the game of cricket and that uncanny ability to know the smallest detail about a game played many years ago.

Farewell Bill Frindall, you will be missed. Somewhere in heaven you are looking down on a game of cricket with your scorebook at the ready.

rockbeer

Bill's voice has been part of the soundtrack to my entire life. There is a beard-shaped hole in the world this morning.

Thank you Bearders.

mikeruurds

RIP Bill. A real loss to the cricketing world. So sad.

Washout

He was always great on TMS...came up with stats straight away when asked for and was really quick to correct Aggers/Blomfeld and Co.

RIP