Charles Anthony Fry (14 January 1940 – 27 October 2024) was an English first-class cricketer and cricket administrator.

Life and career

The son of the cricketer

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

and the grandson of the sportsman C. B. Fry, Charles Fry was born in January 1940 at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. He was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

, before matriculating to

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

. While studying at Oxford, Fry played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Oxford University Cricket Club Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, had held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural University Match between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). Follo ...

, making his debut for the club against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1959. He scored 576 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 26.18 in debut season, including a maiden

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

against the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an England, English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the ...

, sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 256 with Abbas Ali Baig which remained a first-class record for the fifth wicket for Oxford until 2017, when it was broken by Dan Escott's and

Matthew Naylor Matthew A. Naylor (born 11 December 1996) is an English former first-class cricketer. Naylor was born at Coventry in December 1996. He was educated at Finham Park School, before going up to Merton College, Oxford. While studying at Oxford, he ...

's partnership of 267. He gained his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

in this season, when he played against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

The University Match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. The Oxford side of 1959 was considered the last great Oxford University side, with

E. W. Swanton Ernest William "Jim" Swanton (11 February 1907 – 22 January 2000) was an English journalist and author, chiefly known for being a cricket writer and commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for ''The ...

proffering that it was good enough to finish in the top half of the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

. The following season, Fry made fifteen first-class appearances for Oxford in 1960 and made his second appearance in The University Match, which gained him his second blue. In his season, he scored 642 runs for Oxford and made his second century. Later in the season, he made five first-class appearances for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in the

, scoring 134 runs with a highest score of 38. Against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, he was notably bowled by

Robin Marlar Robin Geoffrey Marlar (2 January 1931 – 30 September 2022) was an English cricketer and cricket journalist. He played for Cambridge University before playing for Sussex County Cricket Club from 1951 to 1968. He captained both teams. Early li ...

, who would later become one of his successors to the presidency of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC). He followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, C. B. Fry in playing for Hampshire. As of , this remains the only instance of three generations of one family playing for the county. Fry did not, however, feature for Hampshire in their County Championship winning campaign the following season. Fry played his third and final season for Oxford University in 1961, making twelve appearances and scoring 358 runs at an average of 18.84; his highest score in this season was 61. In his final year, he made his third appearance in The University Match and thus, gained his third blue. 41 of his 50 first-class appearances came for Oxford, with him scoring 1,576 runs for the university at an average of 24.24. The following season, having graduated from Oxford, he appeared twice for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

against Cambridge University at

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

, and

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in the

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. He later appeared twice for the Free Foresters in first-class cricket, against Oxford University in 1964 and 1968. Fry had a long association with the MCC, succeeding Sir Tim Rice as its president in 2003. His tenure was not without controversy, with critics in the MCC claiming he ran club affairs akin to a dictator. At the end of his twelve-month presidency, he was succeeded by

Tom Graveney Thomas William Graveney (16 June 1927 – 3 November 2015) was an English first-class cricketer, representing his country in 79 Test matches and scoring over 4,800 runs. In a career lasting from 1948 to 1972, he became the 15th player to scor ...

, who was the first former professional cricketer to hold the post. In addition to holding the presidency, Fry was chairman of both the MCC and the MCC Foundation. Fry worked in the financial sector, inventing and launching many products as an investment entrepreneur. He launched Johnson Fry, a mortgage and life insurance broker, in 1969. When he was forced out as chief executive, he started Pinder Fry & Benjamin, a firm of financial advisers, eventually retiring in 2005. He died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at home in London, on 27 October 2024, at the age of 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Charles 1940 births 2024 deaths People from Henley-in-Arden Cricketers from Warwickshire People educated at Repton School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Hampshire cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club English cricket administrators English financial businesspeople Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England 20th-century English sportsmen