Fred was a bowler of high renown,
With a pace so fast and furious,
The batsmen had to duck right down,
As to hit the ball was spurious.
He was fast and very accurate too,
That he took three hundred wickets,
The first one ever so to do,
In tests of the game called cricket.
He played one match in a town,
Where the batsman was the umpire’s son;
Fred sent a half paced ball flying down,
Which hit the pads , the lad was done.
The umpire said he wasn’t out,
So Fred took a longer run,
And the ball snicked without a doubt,
Was caught behind, the man was gone.
The umpire once more shook his head,
So Fred took his full length stride,
The stumps, when hit were then shed,
To the boundaries far and wide.
Fred turned towards the umpire man,
And to the him did cheerfully chime,
“Well it was close to my master plan,
I nearly had him out that time”