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Terence Michael Alderman (born 12 June 1956) is a former Australian international cricketer who played primarily as a right-arm fast-medium bowler.
He began his first-class cricket career during the 1974–75 season with Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield and came to international prominence when he was chosen for the Australian national team to tour England in 1981. He was a poor batsman, passing fifty just once in his career and averaging barely eight in first-class cricket. He had three seasons in English county cricket, playing with Kent County Cricket Club in 1984 and 1986 and with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in 1988.
In the 1981 Ashes series he took 42 Test cricket wickets, including nine on debut, the biggest haul in a series since Jim Laker's 46 in 1956 and the fourth-highest total of all time. Alderman's 42 wickets is the record for the most wickets taken in a series without taking 10 wickets in a match. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the Almanack's 1982 edition.
Alderman took part in an unofficial Australian tour of South Africa in 1985–86 and 1986–87, when that country was banned from Test cricket as a Commonwealth anti-apartheid sanction. As a result, he received a three-year ban from international cricket which disqualified him from playing in the 1985 Ashes series in England. Following the end of his ban, Alderman returned to the Australian side and resumed his success against England, taking 41 wickets in the 1989 Ashes series and another 16 in the 1990–91 series, his final The Ashes appearance. He rarely enjoyed similar success against other countries. His final Test series was against the West Indies in 1990–91, where he ended his career with 170 Test wickets.
Alderman studied at Aquinas College in Perth, playing both football and cricket. He bowled in his high school team's first eleven from his third year at high school onwards and was coached by Bert Rigg during his last two years. Alderman represented Western Australia at a schoolboys' carnival in Melbourne in 1972–73 and was chosen in the Australian schoolboys team to play a governors eleven.
The following summer he took 17 wickets at 26 and in 1976/77 he only took 8 wickets at 17. During World Series Cricket, Alderman took 28 wickets at 21 during the 1977/78 summer. The following season he took 26 wickets at 18.69, but was overlooked for national selection.
Alderman had his best season in 1979/80 taking 42 wickets at 28.09 before going to play for Watsonians in Scotland in the northern summer of 1980. In 1980–81 he took 32 wickets at 26, a performance which earned him selection on the 1981 Ashes tour.
He was picked in the first Test and took 4/68 and 5/62, helping bowl Australia to victory. He found things harder going in the second, with 1–79 and 1–42, a game that ended in a draw. In the third Test Alderman took 3/59 in the first innings; England followed on, and Alderman helped reduce England to 7–135 with 4 wickets and two catches. Ian Botham counter-attacked and Alderman's final figures were 6/135 – Australia collapsed chasing and lost the game.
In the fourth Test Alderman bowled beautifully for figures of 5/42 and 3/65 but Australia's batsman collapsed again and lost the game. Australia lost the fifth Test, Alderman taking 4/88 and 5/109. In the sixth drawn Test Alderman took 3/84 and 2/60. He had taken 42 wickets in the Test series at 51 first-class wickets on tour at 20.86.
Alderman was picked as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year.
Alderman played in two Tests against the West Indies. He took 2/54 and 2/23 in the first match, but is probably best remembered for his batting in the first innings – he joined Kim Hughes when the score was 9/155 and stuck around for 43 more runs which proved crucial. Alderman made 10 runs in the 43-run partnership and helped Hughes reach an unbeaten 100, which won him the player of the match. He suffered in the second Test, taking 0/73 and 1/46. Alderman did not play in the third Test, which the West Indies won.
He took 37 first-class wickets that summer at 16.94.
Alderman toured New Zealand in 1982 taking 12 wickets at 30 and was picked for the 1982 tour of Pakistan. Australia went with a two-spin attack for the first two Tests and Alderman was left out. He returned for the third Test despite barely bowling during the tour, taking 2/144 in an Australian defeat. He only took four first-class wickets on tour at 65.
He took 18 first-class wickets that summer at 19.61.
Alderman was unable to force his way back into the Australian side over the 1983/84 summer. However 30 first-class wickets at 25.26 saw him picked for the West Indies.
Alderman made his way back into the Australian side for the first Test against the West Indies during 1984/85. He took 6/128 but the West Indies won by an innings. He took 3/107 in the second Test, which ended with Kim Hughes' resignation as Australian captain. After going wicketless in the third Test he was dropped for the final two Tests of the series.
Alderman took 44 wickets at 28.34 that summer. He was picked to tour England in 1985 but lost his spot when it was revealed he had signed to play in South Africa. Alderman says he was motivated by financial conditions after being left off the contract list of Australian players in 1984. "The board was; not thinking of me for the future.! I was 28 and I had a family to think of, The opportunity to go to South Africa and to get a nest egg came up. It pointed out to me the lack of security you have when you play this, game. 'It's so fickle: one minute you are up,'the next you are down."
Alderman was available for international selection from the 1988/89 season onwards. He was overlooked for the first two Tests but back for the third, taking 4/68 and 3/78. Alderman took 48 first-class wickets in 1988/89 at 20.93 and was selected for the 1989 Ashes in England.
He took 70 first-class wickets on tour at 15.64.
He toured New Zealand in 1990 taking 4/46 and 0/27 in the only Test played on the tour. Alderman kept his place in the Australian side to play England in the 1990/91 Ashes. He took 2/44 and 6/47 in the first Test; 2/86 and 0/19 in the second; 3/62 and 0/29 in the third; he did not play in the fourth but took 0/66 and 3/75 in the fifth. He took 31 first-class wickets at 28.38 that summer and was picked to tour the West Indies.
Alderman's final Test was on the tour of the West Indies in 1991 when he took nine wickets at 38.44 on the tour, playing in just one of the Test matches, taking one wicket in the match.
Alderman is an alumnus of Aquinas College, Perth.
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