FRED Trueman famous for his acerbic one-liners gave an exhibition of extended eloquence to an eager audience in Gwent.

Fiery Fred was on top form at the Celtic Manor when he delivered some fine 'pace' deliveries of the comedy kind.

He started with a flourish and ended on a high note with members of the Newport Business Club calling for a second innings.

"I don't know if any of you know much about cricket - if you don't then I can get you a job as an England selector!"

Irascible former England and Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman was on top form when he entertained Newport Business Club.

Fred played his first game for his native Yorkshire against Cam-bridge University in May 1949 aged just 18 and played for England for the first time in 1952.

The quintessential enigmatic Englishman brought lashings of laughter and mountains of memories to the Celtic Manor Golf Club.

Memorable for becoming the first bowler to take 300 test wickets (67 tests over 13 years) when Colin Cowdrey dived for a catch at slip, Fred has been making headlines most of his life.

And most of it, especially the bad-boy image, is undeserved. Fred, who in all took 1,745 wickets for Yorkshire scoring 6,852 runs and in all representative first-class matches bagged a haul of 2,304 wickets.

But the evening was not about statistics but about the love of the international game of cricket, relatively leisurely travel to far off places, the pleasure of beating the Aussies and camaraderie.

Said Fred: "There was this fast bowler - everyone knows fast bowlers aren't all there - and he was waiting to bowl to the great Viv Richards.

"His captain came up to him and said: 'You'd better watch him, he's invincible.' To which the bowler replied: 'If he's invisible how am I going to see him?'"

Fred slated the introduction of the so-called 'third' umpire - the camera - which umpires now relied on for borderline decisions.

"The third umpire and the camera has taken a certain romance out of the game," he said wistfully "Some of the fun has gone out of the game."

Fred spoke of the brushes with the cricket hierarchy over the years and claimed to still be waiting for apologies on a couple of unproved accusations. Fred gave an insight into a lost world, felt saddened that some of the world's finest cricketers he had played against had gone to the great pavilion in the sky and spoke of the modern game.