Fredrick Malcolm Francke (born 21 March 1939) is a former Australian

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 ...

er who played for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. A leg spinner, Francke played for

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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. Francke dismissed

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese- British former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in ...

twice and also took the wickets of captain

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Bholalall Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin, who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured on ...

and

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

. 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 Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Known as "Chappelli", he is considered as one of the greatest captains the game has seen.

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." 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. In 1975 he was part of a rebel tour of South Africa, playing for the

Brian Close Dennis Brian Close, (24 February 1931 – 13 September 2015) was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, ...

-led DH Robins XI. Leading Australian spinner

Ashley Mallett Ashley Alexander Mallett (13 July 1945 – 29 October 2021) was an Australian cricketer who played in 38 Tests and 9 One Day Internationals between 1968 and 1980. Until Nathan Lyon, he was Australia's most successful off spin bowler since Worl ...

considered Francke to be the best legspinner in Australia during his time and was disappointed Francke never played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

. He had been mentioned in particular as a test chance in 1972/73 and 1973/74 and 74/75. In September 2018, he was one of 49 former Sri Lankan cricketers felicitated by

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national ...

, to honour them for their services before Sri Lanka became a full member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC).

References

Sources

* Mallett, A. (1993) ''Clarrie Grimmett: The Bradman of spin'', University of Queensland Press: Brisbane. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Francke, Malcolm 1939 births Living people Australian cricketers Queensland cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers All-Ceylon cricketers People from Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Cornwall cricketers Expatriate cricketers in England Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia D. H. Robins' XI cricketers Cricketers from Western Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Australian sportsmen