| Player: | VJ Wells |
Vince Wells was easily the sort of player who could have slipped through professional cricket in a fairly unremarkable way. A solid batsman who scored good, rather than great numbers of runs and a bowler whose bowling rarely reached medium-fast, it is a testament to his efforts that he won two Championships and nine ODI caps. His international career started at the advanced age of 33, as England saw that his wobbly medium pacers may be especially frisky in the early English season conditions of the 1999 World Cup. Despite making the final squad, Wells didnt appear in the tournament, and all his appearances were limited to overseas triangular tournaments in the early months of 1999. In the conditions of Australia and then Sharjah, his bowling was often an afterthought, with him coming on as sixth or even seventh bowler. However, he did have his moments with both bat and ball, recording analysis of 10-2-30-3 and then hitting 33 at almost a run a ball against Australia in February 1999 (although England still went on to lose that match). He had earlier played a key role in Leicestershires Championship triumphs of 1996 and 1998, opening the batting and bowling first change. A receding hairline and easily reddened cheeks had probably added to the incorrect impression that his bowling was innocuous. However, he proved that accurate medium pace, with movement both in the air and off the pitch is better than misdirected raw pace on most occasions. He finished with a batting average higher than his bowling (the mark of any genuine all-rounder), and his 302 First-class wickets at just 26.22 gives him a better domestic record than many English Test bowlers. Wells had one season with Durham in 2003, before unexpectedly leaving to take up a business opportunity outside cricket, after having started his career with Kent.
December 2005
(Article: Copyright © 2005 Matthew Reed)