Bill Ferguson

William Henry Ferguson (1880 - September 22, 1957), is the one of the best known cricket scorers. For 52 years from 1905 till his death, 'Fergie' acted as the scorer and baggageman for Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand in 43 tours and 208 Test matches.

He is often credited with two of the most revolutionary innovations in scoring. He developed the radial scoring chart which show the directions in which a batsman scored his runs. Originally called "Ferguson's charts", they are now popularly known as 'wagon-wheels'. He was also believed to have introduced the linear system of scoring which, unlike the conventional system, keeps track of the balls faced by a batsman and off a particular bowler. It has been suggested recently that Ferguson was preceded in the linear system by another Australian named John Atkinson Pendlington.

He received the British Empire medal in 1951. He published his autobiography "Mr Cricket" a few months before his death.

References

* [http://www.sportstats.com.au/INTRODUCTION.html "The Surviving Test Match Record"]
* [http://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/News.aspx?PageID=7&id=1571 "SCG Honours 70 Year Members"]