Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Allansford, Victoria, Australia
About Frank Allan
- Francis Erskine "Frank" Allan (2 December 1849 – 9 February 1917) was an Australian cricketer who represented Victoria in first-class intercolonial matches and made one Test appearance for Australia.
- A tall, wiry left-arm medium pacer known by the sobriquet "The Bowler of a Century", Allan possessed great spin and a peculiar swerve which he claimed to have developed through his use of boomerangs and waddies growing up amongst Aborigines in the Victorian bush.
- He was also given the nickname "Kangaroo" because he would jump like a kangaroo to celebrate taking a wicket. Allan began a lifelong association with the South Melbourne Cricket Club in 1866 when he played for the side in his first ever match.
- Winning the club bowling average that season, he was quickly recognised as a natural of unusual ability, and in 1867, aged seventeen, made his first-class debut for Victoria against New South Wales, taking a first innings five-wicket haul in a performance described by William Hammersley as "unprecedented".
- Allan became the mainstay of Victoria's bowling attack, securing extraordinary figures in a series of intercolonial victories, and played havoc with W.
- G.
- Grace's touring England XI in 1873–74.
- Grace offered to employ Allan as a professional, stating that he had never batted against a greater bowler. In 1878, Allan formed part of the first representative Australian cricket team to tour overseas.
- Dogged by illness for much of the tour, Allan failed to live up to his reputation as he struggled to adapt to England's cool and damp conditions.
- He played in his only Test match the following year on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, against Lord Harris' All-England Eleven, and had an opportunity to appear in the first ever Test, in 1877, facing James Lillywhite's XI, but controversially opted out at the last moment to attend a funfair in Warrnambool.
- Apart from bowling, Allan was also a fine fieldsman and an effective lower order batsman with an individual "mud-scrapping style" that others found amusing and "villainously ugly".In the off-season, Allan played Australian rules football, first for South Melbourne as a successful goalsneak, and later for Albert Park in the fledgling Victorian Football Association.
- Allan took to many other sports, most notably billiards, shooting, and, after retiring from cricket, bowls.
- He was also a keen angler, remarking that he "would rather have a day's fishing on good water than play in the biggest of matches", and according to prominent naturalist Donald Macdonald, Allan "knew more about fish and fishing than anyone in Australia".
- Outside sport, Allan worked in the public service as Victoria's Chief Inspector of Vermin Destruction, and strived to protect Australian fauna and flora.
Read more at Wikipedia
See Also
- Famous People's Birthdays on 02 December, Australia
- Famous People's Birthdays in December, Australia
- Famous cricketer's Birthdays on 02 December, Australia
- Famous cricketer's Birthdays in December, Australia
- Famous Australian rules footballer's Birthdays on 02 December, Australia
- Famous Australian rules footballer's Birthdays in December, Australia