68 Facts About Bill Bowes

William Eric Bowes was an English professional cricketer active from 1929 to 1947 who played in 372 first-class matches as a right arm fast bowler and a right-handed tail end batsman.

Bill Bowes took 1,639 wickets with a best performance of nine for 121 and completed ten wickets in a match 27 times.

Bill Bowes scored 1,531 runs with a highest score of 43* and is one of very few major players whose career total of wickets taken exceeded his career total of runs scored.

Bill Bowes did not rate himself as a fielder but he nevertheless held 138 catches.

Bill Bowes was a member of the ground staff at MCC for ten seasons and they had priority of selection, which meant he played against Yorkshire for them and he did not play against MCC until 1938.

Bill Bowes took 68 Test wickets at the creditable average of 22.33 with a best performance of six for 33.

Bill Bowes represented Yorkshire in thirteen County Championship seasons, his career being interrupted by the Second World War, and the team won the championship eight times in that period, largely due to their strong attack which was led by Hedley Verity and himself.

Bill Bowes spent three years in Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps and lost over four stone in weight.

Bill Bowes continued playing for two seasons after the war but, weakened by his experiences, could only bowl at medium pace.

Bill Bowes's father, John Bowes, was a railwayman whose job with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway caused the family to relocate often.

Bill Bowes played street cricket with other boys and he began watching the local Armley club, whose ground was near his home.

Bill Bowes particularly admired an Armley pace bowler called Tommy Drake and decided to copy his action so that, throughout his career as a top-class bowler, his delivery was always "as near Tommy Drake's as possible".

Bill Bowes went on to represent his two schools, Armley Park Council School and West Leeds High School, at cricket.

Bill Bowes did this for the next two years until, just after Easter in 1927, he was invited by a casual acquaintance to join the Kirkstall Educational Cricket Club in northwest Leeds.

Bill Bowes now found a mentor in John Kaye, one of the club's committee members, who was to play in instrumental part in his eventual career with Yorkshire.

Bill Bowes had a successful season with Kirkstall in 1927 and began receiving offers from other league clubs to turn professional, some of the offers being more for one match than he earned in a week at the estate agency.

Bill Bowes decided to apply and was invited to a trial in January 1928.

Toone recommended the engagement with MCC rather than Warwickshire, suggesting that Bill Bowes would find greater scope for development at Lord's and, with Yorkshire's interests at heart, pointed out that he would be available to play for Yorkshire when not required by MCC.

Bill Bowes gained valuable early experience with the Lord's ground staff and was especially grateful for coaching he received from Walter Brearley.

Bill Bowes began his first-class career playing for MCC in 1928.

Bill Bowes made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Oxford University at The Parks 8 to 10 May 1929.

In Yorkshire's next match, against Essex at the County Ground, Leyton, Bill Bowes made his County Championship debut.

Bill Bowes joined a full Yorkshire team that included the all-time greats Wilfred Rhodes and Herbert Sutcliffe.

Bill Bowes took none for nineteen in the Essex first innings but did not bowl in the second as Rhodes, then aged 51, destroyed Essex with nine for 39 including one spell of seven wickets in 28 balls.

Bill Bowes made only eight championship appearances for Yorkshire in 1929 but he took 40 wickets, five per match, and achieved the very low average of 17.77 which only Rhodes bettered among Yorkshire bowlers.

Bill Bowes' best bowling return in 1929 was an outstanding eight for 77 in late July against Leicestershire at the Dewsbury and Savile Ground.

Bill Bowes really established himself in 1930 when, despite not being a regular choice early on, he took 100 wickets in a season for the first time.

Bill Bowes in 1930 was a significant factor in what Kilburn called Yorkshire's "year of changeover".

Arthur Wood, with whom Bill Bowes was to work so well, established himself as the successor to Arthur Dolphin as Yorkshire's keeper.

Derek Hodgson in the official Yorkshire history wrote that Bowes had relied on his pace, bounce and a big in-swing, but he learned diligently, listening to his peers and especially to the then Yorkshire scorer Billy Ringrose, who had been a renowned out-swinger of his day.

Bill Bowes himself recalled in his autobiography that "the penny finally dropped" when he read in a coaching booklet written by Herbert Sutcliffe, who was not a bowler, that placement of the feet in the delivery stride was key to bowling the outswinger.

Bill Bowes's pace was already lively enough and his exceptional height "enabled him to pitch a length that could draw an unwilling forward stroke yet lift the ball sharply to shoulder of the bat or onto fingers".

In 1931, Yorkshire won the Championship for the first time since 1925 and Bill Bowes took 136 first-class wickets at 15.66 with a best return of seven for 71 and completed ten wickets in a match four times.

In 1932, Yorkshire won their sixteenth Championship with a major contribution from Bill Bowes who took 190 first-class wickets at 15.14 with a best return of nine for 121, his career-best, and completed ten wickets in a match five times.

Bill Bowes played in only the second Test on the Australian leg of the tour, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in which he bowled Don Bradman first ball and that was his only wicket in the match, which Australia won by 111 runs.

Bill Bowes played in the second Test against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland and took six for 34 on the first day to bowl New Zealand out for only 158.

Bill Bowes played in twelve first-class matches on the tour and took 37 wickets with his best performance the six for 34 in the Auckland Test.

In 1933, Yorkshire won a third successive title, Bill Bowes taking 159 first-class wickets at 17.78 with a best return of eight for 69 and completed ten wickets in a match five times.

Bill Bowes took 147 first-class wickets at 19.45 with a best return of seven for 34 and completed ten wickets in a match twice.

In 1935, Bill Bowes was disappointing in the Tests but his bowling was a significant factor in another Yorkshire championship.

In 1935, with Yorkshire winning their eighteenth title, Bill Bowes achieved a career-high season haul of 193 first-class wickets at 15.44 with a best return of eight for 17 and completed ten wickets in a match five times.

Bill Bowes played in all three games against Jamaica and took eleven wickets with a best return of four for 64.

Bill Bowes took 123 first-class wickets at 13.40 with a best return of eight for 56 and completed ten wickets in a match twice.

Bill Bowes sustained a serious ankle injury in the opening match of the 1937 season, starting on 1 May, and could not play again until 23 June.

In 21 matches, Bill Bowes took 82 first-class wickets at 19.58 with a best return of seven for 56 and completed ten wickets in a match once.

Fully fit in 1938, Bill Bowes headed the first-class averages and his bowling helped England to a massive win at The Oval after Len Hutton had scored a world record 364.

In 1938, as Yorkshire won their twentieth title, Bill Bowes took 121 first-class wickets at 15.23 with a best return of six for 32.

In 1939, poor weather conditions restricted his opportunities in the Tests against the West Indies, but Bill Bowes proved unplayable on a wet pitch at Old Trafford and was second to Verity in the Test averages.

In 1939, Yorkshire completed a third successive title, Bill Bowes taking 122 first-class wickets at 14.48 with a best return of seven for 50 and ten wickets in a match once.

Bill Bowes spent three years in Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps and lost over four stone in weight.

Bill Bowes made his final Test appearance in the first match against India in 1946.

Yorkshire retained the championship, their 22nd title, and Bill Bowes took 65 first-class wickets at 15.18 with a best return of five for 17.

Bill Bowes took 73 first-class wickets at 17.49 with a best return of six for 23.

Bill Bowes retired from playing at the end of the 1947 season.

In Barclays World of Cricket, Bill Bowes is described as a bowler who "missed no opportunity to learn by tutorial and experiment".

Bill Bowes rapidly developed into a new-ball bowler of "uncommon liveliness and control".

Bill Bowes's deliveries achieved significant and disconcerting "lift" thanks to his great height and high action.

Colin Bateman wrote that Bill Bowes "never looked like a cricketer" as "his fielding was clumsy at best and his batting so poor that he scored fewer runs than he took wickets".

Bill Bowes was able to sustain his attack for lengthy periods and, with the new ball, could generate an extremely deceptive "swerve" with the ability to swing the ball in both directions.

At times, he was criticised for pitching too short, but in later years, with loss of pace, Bill Bowes found greater reward in attacking the stumps.

When Bill Bowes went to London in April 1928 to join the MCC staff, he lodged with the Beaumont family in Pinner who were friends of his parents.

Bill Bowes lived there for many years while he was attached to MCC.

Bill Bowes was a devoted family man who loved walking his dog.

Bill Bowes had greater ability as a writer and became a cricket correspondent for Leeds-based newspaper The Yorkshire Post.

Bill Bowes wrote numerous articles for Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in which he showed how he experienced the game as a bowler, and his response to the problems that cricket faced during the 1950s and 1960s.

Bill Bowes's responses focused on the everyday cricketer and showed a belief that club cricket, not county or Test cricket, should be seen as the core and building block of the game.

Bill Bowes joined the Freemasons in 1935, being initiated in to Lodge of Peace No 3988.

Bill Bowes died following a heart attack on 4 September 1987, in Otley, West Yorkshire, at the age of 79.