Wilfred Farmer

{{short description|Barbadian cricketer}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Wilfred Farmer

| image =

| country =

| fullname = Wilfred Arthur Farmer

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|10|7|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Clifden, St John, Barbados

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1975|2|25|1921|10|7|df=yes}}

| death_place = Bridgetown, Barbados

| family = Stephen Farmer (son)

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| role =

| club1 = Barbados

| year1 = 1946–47 to 1958

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 9

| runs1 = 663

| bat avg1 = 51.00

| 100s/50s1 = 2/3

| top score1 = 275

| deliveries1 = –

| wickets1 = –

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = –

| catches/stumpings1 = 3/–

| date = 12 July 2018

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/51822.html Cricinfo

}}

Wilfred Arthur Farmer (7 October 1921 – 25 February 1975) was a Barbadian cricketer who played first-class cricket for Barbados from 1947 to 1958. He was later Deputy Commissioner of Police in Barbados.

Wilfred Farmer attended The Lodge School in Barbados. Before a back injury curtailed his bowling he was a fast bowler, but as a batsman he was a formidable hitter of sixes.Keith A. P. Sandiford, Cricket Nurseries of Colonial Barbados: The Elite Schools, 1865–1966, University of the West Indies Press, Kingston, 1998, p. 54–55. The best of his cricket career came in two matches against Jamaica in January 1952. In the first match, captaining Barbados, he went to the crease at 101 for 1 and scored 275 in eight hours, putting on 152 with Cammie Smith for the second wicket, 111 with Conrad Hunte for the third, 198 with Gordon Proverbs for the fourth, and 60 with Cecil Williams for the fifth before he was out with the score at 621 for five. Barbados were all out for 753 at the end of the second day, and went on to win the match by an innings.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/20/20074.html | title = Barbados v Jamaica 1951-52 (1st match)| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate =12 July 2018}} In the second match, which began two days after the first one ended, he made 107, the only century in the match, and Barbados won by 223 runs.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/20/20085.html | title = Barbados v Jamaica 1951-52 (2nd match)| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate =12 July 2018}}

He later served as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Barbados, and also served in senior positions in the police forces of Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia.Tony Cozier, "W. A. Farmer", The Cricketer, May 1976, p. 29. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 1963.{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/42870/supplement/32/data.pdf|title=SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1st JANUARY 1963 |page=32|accessdate=12 July 2018}} His friendship and persuasion led the young Gary Sobers to join the Police Boys' Club and its cricket team in the early 1950s, where Sobers soon excelled and forced his way into the Barbados team.

His son Stephen played for Barbados in the 1970s and became a QC.{{cite web | url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/51821.html| title = Stephen Farmer| publisher = Cricinfo | accessdate =12 July 2018}}{{cite web | url = http://barbadosbarassociation.com/members_directory.cfm?MemberID=59&PageAction=DetailsLawyer| title = Mr. Stephen Wilfred Farmer Q.C.| publisher = Barbados Bar Association | accessdate =12 July 2018}}