{{Short description|English cricketer (1869–1957)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Fred Huish | image = | fullname = Frederick Henry Huish | birth_date = {{Birth date|1869|11|15|df=yes}} | birth_place = Clapham, Surrey | death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|3|16|1869|11|15|df=yes}} | death_place = Northiam, Sussex | batting = Right-handed | role = Wicket-keeper | family = Francis Huish (brother) | club1 = Kent | year1 = 1895–1914 | type1 = FC | debutdate1 = 3 June | debutyear1 = 1895 | debutfor1 = Kent | debutagainst1 = Warwickshire | lastdate1 = 31 August | lastyear1 = 1914 | lastfor1 = Kent | lastagainst1 = Hampshire | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 497 | runs1 = 7,547 | bat avg1 = 12.85 | 100s/50s1 = 0/12 | top score1 = 93 | deliveries1 = 101 | wickets1 = 0 | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1 = 933/377 | date = 4 February | year = 2010 | source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/15031.html CricInfo }} '''Frederick Henry Huish''' (15 November 1869 – 16 March 1957) was an English professional cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Kent County Cricket Club in the period before the First World War. Huish played over 450 times for Kent and was part of the teams which won four County championship titles in the Golden Age of cricket leading up to the war. He holds the record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in first-class cricket who did not play a Test match.<ref name=walmsley>{{cite book|last=Walmsley|first=Keith|title=Mosts Without in Test Cricket|year=2003|publisher=Keith Walmsley Publishing Pty Ltd|location=Reading, England |isbn=0947540067|pages=457}}.</ref>
Huish became an influential figure and senior professional at Kent at a time when amateur cricketers were the only acceptable captains in English county cricket. He was described in his ''Wisden'' obituary as "one of the ablest and least demonstrative wicket-keepers of his generation".<ref name=wisden59>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155491.html Fred Huish – Obituary], ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1958. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref>
==Cricket career== Huish made his debut for Kent at the age of 25 in 1895 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.<ref name=cafc>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30456/First-Class_Matches.html First-class matches played by Fred Huish], CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref> He played three times in 1895 before going on to become the regular wicket-keeper for Kent from 1896 to 1914, making at least 19 appearances each season for the County.<ref name=cafcseasons>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30456/f_Batting_by_Season.html First-class batting and fielding in each season by Fred Huish], CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref> In 1899 he dismissed a then-record 79 batsmen, including taking eight catches in one match at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire, and went on to become the first wicket-keeper to take 100 dismissals in a season in 1911.<ref name=wisden59 /><ref name=wilde3>Wilde S (2013) ''Wisden Cricketers of the Year: A Celebration of Cricket's Greatest Players'', A&C Black, p.3.</ref><ref name=berry>Berry S (2015) ''Cricket: The Game of Life: Every reason to celebrate'', Hachette UK. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=KTd0CAAAQBAJ&dq=fred%20huish%20cricketer&pg=PT50 Available online]), retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref>
Huish repeated this feat in 1913 and, as of November 2017, remains the record holder for most dismissals in a career for Kent with a total of 1,254 dismissals in 469 matches.<ref name=annual17p206 /> He is also second on the all-time list of first-class stumpings in a career with 377, second only to another Kent wicket-keeper Les Ames.<ref name=scott>Scott L (2011) ''Bats, Balls & Bails: The Essential Cricket Book'', Random House. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=KDIxbom3Wb4C&dq=fred%20huish&pg=PT525 Available online]), retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref><ref name=cistumpings>[http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283336.html Most stumpings in career], CricInfo. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref> Huish is generally considered the first in a line of great Kent wicket-keepers including the likes of Ames, Godfrey Evans and Alan Knott.<ref name=wisden59 /><ref name=wisden66>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/234625.html Hubble, John Charlton – Obituaries in 1966], ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1966. Retrieved 8 April 2016.</ref><ref name=cc9apr13>Sengupta A (2013) [http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/alan-knott-ndash-arguably-the-greatest-wicketkeeper-ever-25010 Alan Knott: Arguably greatest wicketkeeper ever], Cricket Country, 9 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2016.</ref> He kept Jack Hubble, who succeeded Huish behind the stumps after World War I, out of the wicket-keeper role in the Kent team.<ref name=wisden66 /> Despite his record-breaking career he was never chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year<ref name=wilde3 /> and was never called into the England team, although he is often considered unlucky not to have played internationally.<ref name=wisden59 /><ref name=kccchistory>[http://www.kentcricket.co.uk/the-club/history A brief history], Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref>
In August 1911 Huish made ten dismissals in a single match against Surrey at The Oval,<ref name=wisden59 /> a Kent record he holds jointly with Hubble.<ref name=annual17p206>'Field and wicket-keeping records' in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', pp.206–208. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.</ref> Nine of the dismissals were stumpings, the only time a wicket-keeper has claimed nine victims stumped in a match, beating the previous record of eight stumpings by Ted Pooley in 1878.<ref name=scott /><ref name=annual17p206 /><ref name=cc23aug16>Mukherjee A (2016) [http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/fred-huish-effects-9-stumpings-in-a-match-485607 Fred Huish effects 9 stumpings in a match], Cricket Country, 23 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.</ref>
Huish played as the first choice wicket-keeper in each of Kent's County Championship winning teams of the period between 1906 and 1913. He made 151 consecutive Championship appearances for the County between 1909 and 1914<ref name=kccc3sep12>[http://www.kentcricket.co.uk/news/geraint-jones-reaches-impressive-county-championship-milestone Geraint Jones reaches impressive County Championship milestone], Kent County Cricket Club, 3 September 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref> and was considered a major influence on the team – Wisden writing that he exerted "remarkable control over his colleagues" and that others would not appeal for a catch at the wicket unless he appealed first.<ref name=wisden59 /> He was a relatively poor batsman, although he scored 500 runs in a season a number of times and had a highest scored of 93.<ref name=wisden59 /><ref name=cafcseasons />
Huish played his final first-class match at the end of the 1914 County Championship season. After the First World War, Huish, aged 49, did not resume his cricket career. In total he played 469 first-class matches for Kent and 22 times for MCC. He was selected just once for the Players and made single appearances for a variety of other teams.<ref name=cafcteams>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30456/f_Batting_by_Team.html First-class batting and fielding for each team by Fred Huish], CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 April 2016.</ref>
==Personal life== Huish was born in 1869 in Clapham, at that time part of Surrey. His older brother, Francis played five first-class matches for Kent in 1895 as well as making appearances for other teams in non-first-class matches. Huish died in Northiam in Sussex in 1957 aged 87.<ref name=ci>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/15031.html Fred Huish], CricInfo. Retrieved 16 November 2017.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=15031}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huish, Fred}} Category:Kent cricketers Category:Players cricketers Category:1869 births Category:1957 deaths Category:English cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:London County cricketers Category:North v South cricketers Category:People from Clapham Category:Cricketers from the London Borough of Lambeth Category:People from Northiam Category:Wicket-keepers Category:Cricketers from East Sussex Category:19th-century English sportsmen