Alfred Harry "Fred" Bakewell (2 November 1908 – 23 January 1983) was an English cricketer. Playing for Northamptonshire and England, he was an opening batsman who was renowned as one of the most exciting players of his time, largely owing to his unorthodox methods, which allowed him to play some of the most brilliant innings in county cricket, despite the fact that his county, Northamptonshire, was exceptionally weak throughout his career: he was always the only class batsman in the team in the years before his career was ended by a serious car accident in 1936. His stance was perhaps the most "two-eyed" known in the history of the game, with his right shoulder typically turned so far round as to be facing mid-off, and he gripped the bat with the hands at the extreme ends of the handle. Such a stance would naturally lead to a defensive player who only had strokes on the leg side and would be dull and ugly. Bakewell, however, owing to his superb footwork and amazing dexterity in moving the bat, could and did easily place himself far wide of the leg stump for a ball on off stump. This allowed Bakewell to produce some of the most remarkable strokes, such as cutting sharp off-breaks pitched on middle stump and difficult hooks of short-pitched balls. Though his defence was suspect in his early days, he did work on this problem with considerable success. He first played for Northamptonshire in 1928, and made an immediate impact with five catches on his first-class debut against Essex – Bakewell remained one of the best close fielders throughout his career, taking eight catches in the return with Essex. In 1929 he reached 1000 runs and the following year made a brilliant 204 against Somerset. With Jack Hobbs having retired the following year, Bakewell was seen as the best young prospect open the England innings with the incomparable Herbert Sutcliffe. He batted well until he allowed himself to be run out rather than Sutcliffe, but did not retain his place. In 1933, however, Bakewell reached his highest point, twice in successive matches breaking the record for Northamptonshire's highest innings, and doing so in spectacular style with seemingly impossible strokes. Against the short, fast "bodyline" bowling of Manny Martindale in the third Test, Bakewell's dexterity allowed him to play a skillful, even solid innings of 107 – his only Test