ENGLAND’S TEST TEAM

Southland Times, Issue 21822, 27 September 1932, Page 5

ENGLAND’S TEST TEAM

THE SELECTION OF BOWES. A DANGEROUS BOWLER. London, September 13. W. E. Bowes, the Yorkshireman whose late selection as 17th man in the M.C.C. team for Australia reads almost like schoolboy fiction, ought to do well in Australia, for he is a vastlyimproved bowler. He is not tremendously fast, but sometimes is really dangerous, and Australian batsmen must expect to fihd many balls singing past their ears. As a batsmen he will add to what is now a pronounced tail on the English team. The selectors have taken a bold, but probably wise, step in recruiting Bowes four days before the team sails, but a less happy aspect of the choice is the swelling of the team to rather unmanageable proportions, thus increasing Jardine’s already unenviable problem of whom to omit.

The team, which a few weeks ago could justifiably be described as without a tail, now possesses a pronounced weakness in batting, with Mitchell, Bowes, Verity, Duckworth and Tate, especially as the last-named’s batting has gone to pieces. The side is also less impressive in the field than as originally selected, Hammond being now the only regular first-class slip. Bowes’s father, who is a goods foreman at Leeds railway station, says there is satisfaction in the knowledge that his son has achieved honour through sheer hard work and merit. He always was cricket mad, and spent his holidays and all his spare time practising on an allotment near his home. He played for his Sunday school at 16, and always was determined to be a professional. He had arranged io play for Warwick, when he was one of seven chosen from 200 applicants, to join the ground staff at Lord’s. When leaving to take the job his father said, “Sithee, lad, if theest be a cricketer tha must gie all thy time to it. Ay, lad, theest can’t play about.” Bowes replied: “That’s all right, dad. I’ll not only play for Yorkshire, but will be the best fast bowler in the country.”

Playing for Marylebone, he got the hat-trick against Cambridge University, and his form became so promising that the M.C.C. offered him a-mine years’ contract. Yorkshire subsequently obtained the permission of the M.C.C. to play him whenever possible.

Bowes naturally bowled an inswinger, but determined also to bowl an outswinger, but was unablo to do so without bowling so far outside the stumps that the batsmen easily detected the one from the other. He then consulted an old professional, and spent the entire winter practising with Verity in a shed at Leeds until he had successfully disguised the outswinger. Yorkshire cricket followers are delighted at his inclusion, as they consider him one of the best bowlers the county has ever possessed. Bowes intended to marry a London girl, but has postponed the wadding until after the tour. Few batsmen have played Bowes confidently this season, declares _ Mr Carson, the Evening News _ cricket writer, and since the beginning of August he has taken 92 wickets for an average of 13 runs apiece, his season’s performance being 190 wickets for an average of 15.4. When bowling yesterday he had eight fieldsmen behind the wicket, and only himself, cover and silly mid-on in front of it. The Manchester Guardian says Bowes is academically imperfect, but is able to impart a nasty rising angle to every delivery. No living cricketer could have got such life out of to-dav’s wicket, which was the world’s worst for a fast bowler. The Star says Bowes literally forced himself into the team. The Daily Mail says that even those peculiar people who accuse Bowes of a crime whenever he pitches a short ball agree that his inclusion in the English team as seventeenth man increases the chances of the team dismissing the Australians for'a reasonable score. LIKE GREGORY • ARTHUR MAILEY’S VIEWS. London, September 15. "In my opinion Bowes is probably the best bowler in England, and more like Jack Gregory than any I have seen,” said Arthur Mailey. “He should be even more dangerous in Australia, with his short deliveries pitched on the leg stump, and he may embarrass our batsmen. He occasionally forced the batsmen to step away, this number including Tate, who on being bowled second ball, said: ‘He can have my wicket. I want the trip to Australia.’ ”