I first came across Frank even before I got to Otago Boys’ High School. As a timorous primary school youngster in 1953 we relocated from Timaru to the big smoke of Dunedin. We lived in a state housing area in Halfway Bush. In summer, cricket having already woven its spell, meant a tramp down to the Kaikorai CC. Our coach was the legendary Otago and New Zealand batsman and wicket keeper (and Willower) Artie Dick. One Saturday a group of of us headed down to see Artie turn out for the seniors. They were playing the redoubtable Dunedin. Frank was bowling from the golf club end. Artie took him to the cleaners straight and over mid-off depositing several balls across the road into the golf course. It was the only time ever that I saw Frank’s bowling treated with disdain.
Fast forward to Boys’ High. It wasn’t until the fifth form I encountered Frank the teacher. It was for geography. He was a master at identifying what questions would be asked in School Cert that year. Having done that we would arrive in class with a perfect multi-coloured chalk copper- plated answer. A few words were said advising us to write down every word and remember it by heart. Frank then headed for the door and the square looking for any imperfections. If any boy was too stupid not to follow his advice “to write it down and learn it by heart” they got a little tail warmer. Not many were so bold and I understand Frank’s students had the best results in School Certificate geography for New Zealand.
Two years later I was in the First XI under Frank’s tutelage. He never said a lot but what he had to say was pithy and to the point. In the nets he occasionally would bowl leg spinners from a couple of paces getting quite prodigious turn. But he didn’t have a wrong ’un. Being left-handed I had to have a go at him and one day managed to hit him out of the nets into the Stuart Street extension. He never said a word but a steely twinkle came into his eyes and he proceeded to bowl me two overs off his full run. A slightly frightening introduction to net etiquette.
Leaving school I didn’t play cricket for a while. I spent the summers after Varsity exams at the local freezing works instead. Ultimately, I qualified in law and got a job in a law firm in the city. The boss suggested I should try out the “flash” new hairdressing salon around the corner. The legendary Willower and grounds man, Vincent Cusack cut my hair. Once he found out I loved cricket but was not playing he harangued and cajoled me into to turning out for the Dunedin Club, where he was a long standing stalwart of the committee. I managed to get into the senior squad and of course the first person to bowl to me in the very green nets was FJ ... steely glint and all. We had a pretty good side with three NZ reps in Frank, Wally Lees and Keith Campbell plus a number of Otago players. North East Valley had a very useful and inoffensive opener called Wilf Kerr. Never found out why but he got Frank very wound up. He put me into what I thought was a suicidally short silly mid on. Eventually I managed to catch Wilf. Not a bad snare I thought. I turned to the bowler. He gave the trousers that inimitable tug and said ”you started coming up too soon”!
Later in the season we played Old Boys at University Oval. Best deck in Dunedin in those days and Frank kept picking up wickets. When the opposition were 9 down jet black southerly clouds appeared over the hills. Every Dunedin cricketer knows this was the harbinger of rain or sleet or hail (or indeed all three). The batsman was a guy called Lonnie Anderson. A solidly built second-five for the Kaikorai seniors, and useful all-rounder. The clouds kept getting closer. There were a few spits of cold rain. I was fielding at deep square on the fence. Frank dropped one short and Lonnie launched into. Somewhere out of the black clouds the ball was coming. By some miracle I managed to catch it well above my head. As we trudged off the rain started pelting down but there was no ‘good catch’ from Frank. I had simply done what I was put there for. But to my knowledge that was Frank’s only 10-fer. We won the competition that year.
If you wanted to wind Frank up you just had to say Keith Thompson. I was present at a game at Carisbrook where Keith got a hundred in each innings for Canterbury which accelerated his selection into the Black Caps. In the first innings a ball bowled by Frank went, to everyone’s eyes but Keith and the umpire, from glove to first slip. In the second dig the same occurred but to the keeper. Frank again the bowler. I think in both innings Keith had not yet reached double figures.
To my mind Frank’s contribution to New Zealand as a player has been underestimated. Particularly, on the 1961/62 tour of South Africa which I listened to avidly on a crystal set. South Africa had a strong side. John Reid got runs and wickets, Zin Harris and I think Snicks McGregor got hundreds, Artie useful runs and catches. But leading the way were the bowlers – Bartlett, Alabaster, Motz and Cameron. Frank was outstanding in the tied series (two wins a piece and a draw) taking two fifers and the final wicket to win the fifth test just before close of play. That performance should be high in the pantheon of New Zealand test wins. It has not the received the prominence it deserves.
Frank gave his all for club, province and country. His reputation as a chairman of selectors is unequalled. At school I was not one of the “good boys”. Quite the opposite ... definitely not prefect material. In later life when I saw Frank at The Willows or Hagley a light grin would caress his lips, the eyes would twinkle and with a slight shake of the head he’d just say “Hansen”.
RIP Frank, the bowler who definitely did land it on a half crown in the nets.