Cricket's Historians

Bowen Bows Out The books which were published were: • Glamorgan by Wilf Wooller • Kent by R.L.Arrowsmith • Lancashire by John Kay • Middlesex by E.M.Wellings • Surrey by Gordon Ross • Yorkshire by Mike Stevenson Warwickshire by John Solan was advertised, but was never actually published.. Of the authors, Arrowsmith and Ross have been commented upon. John Kay, born in Middleton, Lancashire in January 1910, was educated at Durford School, joined the Manchester Evening News in 1926 and remained on that paper until 1975 when he retired. He contributed to The Cricketer notes and articles on league cricket in Lancashire from the 1950s to 1979. He went to Australia with the England touring side several times and published books on two of those tours. His most important book from the historical standpoint was Cricket in the Leagues , published in 1970. The work covered not only the Lancashire leagues but most of the other major leagues in the north of England. He remained as the Wisden correspondent for Lancashire until 1982. John Kay, who had been a very useful club cricketer in his younger days, died in February 1999. Evelyn Maitland Wellings was born in Alexandria, Egypt in April 1909. Educated at Cheltenham and Oxford, he was awarded his cricket blue as an off-break bowler and appeared fleetingly for Surrey in 1931. Taking up journalism he was much feared in some quarters. It was noted that he ‘reported more than 200 Tests with a trenchancy that has never been matched’. His principal work was for the London Evening News , which he joined in 1938 and retired from in 1973, going to live in Spain. He wrote a column, in his retirement, for Wisden Cricket Monthly in its early years. He wrote books on several Test series, but his only book of an historical nature was the one mentioned on Middlesex – it goes without saying that his Middlesex work was the liveliest of the Arthur Barker series. Mike Stevenson was born in Chinley, Derbyshire in June 1927. Educated at Rydal and Cambridge, he appeared occasionally for Derbyshire. Initially 211