Frei appeared six times for Australian rules football club Footscray during the 1973 VFL season.
[2] It was not until the age of 31 that he made his first-class cricket debut, picked to play against a Bob Willis led England XI.
In a match that Queensland won, he dismissed the Test player Graeme Fowler for single figures in both innings and as well as David Gower twice.
[3] As a result of his strong showing against England, Frei made his Sheffield Shield debut the following week and went on to take 20 wickets at 38.75 for the 1982/83 season.
[4] He performed better in Queensland's 1983/84 Shield campaign with 23 wickets at 24.08, helping them to their first final, which they lost to Western Australia.