{{short description|West Indian cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Franklyn Stephenson | image = | country = | fullname = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|04|08|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Saint James, Barbados]] | death_date = | death_place = | nickname = | heightft = | heightinch = | heightm = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm fast | role = | family =
| club1 = [[Tasmanian Tigers|Tasmania]] | year1 = 1981/82 | club2 = [[Barbados national cricket team|Barbados]] | year2 = {{nowrap|1981/82–1989/90}} | club3 = [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]] | year3 = 1982–1983 | club4 = [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] | year4 = 1988–1991 | club5 = [[Orange Free State cricket team|Orange Free State]] | year5 = 1991/92–1996/97 | club6 = [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]] | year6 = 1992–1995
| columns = 2 | column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]] | matches1 = 219 | runs1 = 8,622 | bat avg1 = 27.99 | 100s/50s1 = 12/43 | top score1 = 166 | deliveries1 = 40,297 | wickets1 = 792 | bowl avg1 = 24.26 | fivefor1 = 44 | tenfor1 = 10 | best bowling1 = 8/47 | catches/stumpings1 = 100/– | column2 = [[List A cricket|List A]] | matches2 = 282 | runs2 = 4,717 | bat avg2 = 22.67 | 100s/50s2 = 2/16 | top score2 = 108 | deliveries2 = 14,391 | wickets2 = 448 | bowl avg2 = 19.91 | fivefor2 = 9 | tenfor2 = 0 | best bowling2 = 6/9 | catches/stumpings2 = 61/– | date = 8 May | year = 2012 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2294/2294.html CricketArchive }}
'''Franklyn DaCosta Stephenson''' (born 8 April 1959) is a former [[cricketer]] from [[Barbados]] who played as a right handed batsman and pacer. Stephenson played as an allrounder for his native [[Barbados national cricket team|Barbados]] together with [[Tasmanian Tigers|Tasmania]], [[Orange Free State cricket team|Orange Free State]], [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]], [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] and [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]] in his cricketing career. As an aggressive middle-order batsman and genuinely quick pacer, he was also known for being one of the greatest exponents of the [[slower ball]].<ref name=Notts /><ref name=Wisden>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisden.com/stories/archive/life-in-the-slow-lane-the-evolution-of-the-slower-ball/amp|title=Life in the slow lane: The evolution of the slower ball|author=Harman, Jon|date=30 November 2020|publisher=[[Wisden]]|website=wisden.com|access-date=3 October 2022|archive-date=28 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228161356/https://wisden.com/stories/archive/life-in-the-slow-lane-the-evolution-of-the-slower-ball/amp|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Playing career== Stephenson played for the [[West Indian cricket team|West Indies]] Young Cricketers team on their 1979 English tour. During 1981 he made his first-class debut, playing for [[Tasmanian Tigers|Tasmania]]. He also started to feature, in that year, for his native [[Barbados cricket team|Barbados]] and English side [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]].<ref name=Notts>{{cite web|url=https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/trentbridge/history/players/franklyn-stephenson.html|title=Franklyn Stephenson|date=April 2020|publisher=[[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]]|website=trentbridge.co.uk}}</ref>
During the following winter, Stephenson joined a [[South African rebel tours#West Indian tours, 1982–83 and 1983–84|rebel West Indies team]], led by [[Lawrence Rowe]], that twice toured South Africa. This team featured players such as [[Alvin Kallicharran]], [[Collis King]], [[Colin Croft]] and [[Ezra Moseley]]. The West Indian rebels played in unofficial Tests and ODIs against the [[South African cricket team|South African national cricket team]] who, due to [[apartheid]], were at the time barred from world cricket. The rebel West Indian cricketers were later handed a lifetime ban from playing cricket by the [[West Indies Cricket Board|WICB]]. After those rebel tours came to an end, he began playing for South African outfit [[Orange Free State cricket team|Free State]]. As the lifetime ban was eventually lifted in 1989, Stephenson was able to play for [[Barbados]] in the 1989–90 [[Red Stripe Cup]]. Stephenson though never went on to play international cricket. He is regarded by some cricketing aficionados as one of if not the greatest cricketer who never played for the West Indies.<ref name=Notts /><ref name=Cricinfo>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/250570.html|title=Sleight of hand|author=Vaidyanathan, Siddhartha|date=17 June 2020|publisher=[[Cricinfo]]|website=cricinfo.com}}</ref>
Stephenson then joined [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] in 1988. With county cricket sides having now only one overseas player, Stephenson came to the club as a replacement for fellow all-rounders [[Clive Rice]] and [[Richard Hadlee]]. Stephenson impressed in his debut season at Notts, in achieving the all-rounder's [[double (cricket)|"double"]] of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets. He became only the second and last cricketer since the reduction in first-class games in 1969, after his Notts predecessor Hadlee (1981), to achieve this feat, in making 1018 runs and taking 125 wickets. He was thereafter named a [[Wisden Cricketer of the Year]] in 1989 for this achievement, and was also the [[Cricket Society]]'s leading all-rounder. Stephenson's attained the batting aspect of the double by notching a century in each innings against [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] in Notts’ final match of the season. He also took 11 wickets in the game, which Nottinghamshire eventually lost.<ref name=Notts /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154440.html |title=Cricketer of the Year 1989 Franklyn Stephenson |publisher=[[Wisden]] |website=cricinfo.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://static.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1988/ENG_LOCAL/CC/NOTTS_YORKS_CC_14-17SEP1988.html | title=Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire at Nottingham, 14-17 Sep 1988}}</ref>
Stephenson continued as an effective all-rounder for further three seasons with Nottinghamshire. He eventually left Notts to join [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]], where he played for another four seasons. During 1994, he scored over 750 runs and claimed a total of 67 wickets for that club.<ref name=Notts /><ref name=Cricinfo />
Stephenson retired from English county cricket after 1995 and from South African domestic cricket after the 1996–97 season. Stephenson continued to earn acclaim for his notable all round feats along with his effective use of slower balls in both the First Class and List A forms of the game.<ref name=Notts />
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Rebel West Indies squad}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Franklyn}} [[Category:1959 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Barbadian cricketers]] [[Category:Barbados cricketers]] [[Category:Tasmania cricketers]] [[Category:Gloucestershire cricketers]] [[Category:Nottinghamshire cricketers]] [[Category:Sussex cricketers]] [[Category:Barbadian expatriate cricketers in England]] [[Category:Free State cricketers]] [[Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year]] [[Category:Staffordshire cricketers]] [[Category:Barbadian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa]] [[Category:Barbadian expatriate sportspeople in Australia]] [[Category:Barbadian expatriate sportspeople in England]] [[Category:D. B. Close's XI cricketers]]