Alan Peter Wells (born 2 October 1961) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He played for Sussex from 1981 to 1996, where he was captain from 1992 to 1996. He then played for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

from 1997 to 2000. In total he played 376 first-class matches in a career spanning twenty seasons, with a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 38.57 and a top score of 253

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

(against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in 1991). He only played twice for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, once in a

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

(where he was dismissed for a golden duck by the

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...

), and once in a One Day International. In 1989–90, Wells joined the rebel tour of South Africa as a replacement when Roland Butcher pulled out.

Domestic career

Wells played most of his career with Sussex, helping them to win the John Player League in 1982 and the 1986 NatWest Trophy. He moved to Kent in 1997, appearing in the final of that year's Benson & Hedges Cup and briefly played with

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

in South Africa in 1981–82.

England A

Wells toured South Africa with England A in 1993–94, impressing by making 130 (and 45 not out) in the unofficial 'Test', as well as 126 against Eastern Province. During the following winter of 1994–95, Wells led England 'A' to a long and highly successful tour of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. They convincingly won the three unofficial tests against their Indian counterparts. The three-match One-Day series was much closer, but still England 'A' emerged victorious (2–1). Wells produced his best in the 2nd 'Test' at the Eden Gardens,

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. There, he scored 93 & 65. The Indian leg was followed by a short tour of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in mid-February. England 'A' won the two One-Day matches, while the 3-Day match was drawn. Wells' able leadership was a key factor in the success of the tour,

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

praising Wells as a "hard, aggressive captain". It was a great learning experience for some of the young England players. Some of them, like, Nick Knight,

Michael Vaughan Michael Paul Vaughan (born 29 October 1974) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He served as England captain for the test team from 2003 to 2008, the one-day international team from 200 ...

Dominic Cork Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

Jason Gallian Jason Edward Riche Gallian (born 25 June 1971) is a former English Test cricketer. A right-handed opening batter, he originally hails from Australia and captained their Under-19 side for two Under-19 Tests in 1989 and 1990. He played three Test m ...

, went on to play for the main England outfit, others such as tour vice-captain

Mark Ramprakash Mark Ravin Ramprakash (born 5 September 1969) is an English former cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he initially made his name playing for Middlesex, and was selected for England aged 21. A gifted, and one of the heaviest-scoring, English b ...

and Ian Salisbury also presently resuming their Test careers.

International career

Hughes however suggested at the end of the India leg of the 1994-5 tour that while Wells "still has aspirations for Test cricket ... these are probably just wishful thinking despite his versatility". Nonetheless, Wells did briefly get a limited chance for international cricket the following summer (1995). In his only

one-day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

, an England victory over the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, his innings was limited by the solidity of England's higher order batting, especially captain

Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the ca ...

who made his first one-day international century, ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' observing that "Wells, making his England debut at 33, had to walk out for a ten-minute thrash after Atherton finally departed to a standing ovation". It was a similar story in his only Test match three months later,

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on ...

observing that on Wells' first day of Test cricket, Ambrose "turned Alan Wells' moment of destiny after his long wait for a Test innings into deepest bathos by dismissing him first ball". Then "on a perfect pitch for batting", Brian Lara, Carl Hooper and others racked up big scores and once again a lengthy innings by Atherton (this time a draw-ensuring rearguard) left Wells almost no opportunity to bat in the second innings, Martin-Jenkins observing that "Atherton`s untimely fall five short of a century allowed Alan Wells to get off the mark in Test cricket, albeit in what was a 'no win' situation". Wells finished three not out as the match ended, his only Test runs. Wells' brother,

Colin Wells Colin Wells may refer to: *Colin Wells (actor) (born 1963), English actor in ''Titus'' *Colin Wells (cricketer) (born 1960), English cricketer *Colin Wells (historian) (1933–2010), English classicist *Colin Wells (Spooks), fictional character in ...

, also played for Sussex and England (in two One Day Internationals ten years earlier).

Later career

Alan Wells is now director of cricket at St Bede's School, Hailsham.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Alan 1961 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers Sussex cricketers Sussex cricket captains Kent cricketers Border cricketers English cricketers People from Newhaven, East Sussex Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers