Evelyn Maitland "Lyn" Wellings (6 April 1909 – 10 September 1992) was an

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian-born 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 striki ...

er and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, who played for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Life and career

Lyn Wellings was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, Egypt, where his father was a tea merchant. He was sent to England for his education at the age of six, beginning at a prep school in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

and going on to

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he studied

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

David Frith David Edward John Frith (born 16 March 1937) is a cricket writer and historian. Cricinfo describes him as "an author, historian, and founding editor of ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''". Life and career David Frith was born in Gloucester Place in Lo ...

, "The Right of a Writer to Criticise", in ''Frith on Cricket: Half a Century of Writing'', Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, 2010, pp. 244–45. At Oxford, he won

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

for cricket and golf. He had his most successful cricket season in 1931, taking 52 wickets with his off-spin at an average of 27.57. At the start of the season he took his best first-class figures of 6 for 75 against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, and in the final match he took seven wickets when Oxford beat Cambridge in the

University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. After a brief period as a schoolmaster, Wellings became a trenchant cricket correspondent, usually with the by-line E. M. Wellings, writing for the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' and the ''

London Evening News The ''London Evening News'' was a newspaper whose first issue was published on 14 August 1855. Usually, when people mention the ''London Evening News'', they are actually referring to '' The Evening News'', published in London from 1881 to 1980, ...

'', the latter between 1938 and 1973, with the exception of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

service in the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

. He wrote the annual review of Public Schools cricket in ''

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 ...

'' from 1945 to 1972.

Ian Wooldridge Ian Edmund Wooldridge, OBE (14 January 1932 – 4 March 2007) was a British sports journalist. He was with the '' Daily Mail'' for nearly 50 years. Biography Born in New Milton, Hampshire, Wooldridge left Brockenhurst Grammar School with two ...

said that Wellings "dipped his pen in vitriol". His ''Wisden'' obituary noted that he attacked one-day cricket, overseas players in county teams, faulty technique, the isolation of South African cricket, and anything to do with the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established in ...

, and that "the tone of his argument was so forceful that it usually upset more people than it won over".

, however, defended Wellings, saying that "his attacks on the game's adverse trends and ill-conceived pieces of administration were the compulsion of a man whose regard for cricket was unusually deep", and came from someone who had himself played the game well and was "an outstanding analyst". Frith added, "Wellings gave every impression of enjoying his infamous reputation."

Books

*''No Ashes for England'' 1951 *''Meet the Australians'' 1953 *''The Ashes Retained'' 1955 *''The Ashes Thrown Away: The M.C.C. Tour of Australia 1958-59'' 1959 *''Dexter versus Benaud: M.C.C. Tour of Australia 1962-3'' 1963 *''Simpson's Australians: The England Tour 1964'' 1964 *''A History of County Cricket: Middlesex'' 1972 *''Vintage Cricketers'' 1983

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wellings, Evelyn 1909 births 1992 deaths Surrey cricketers Oxford University cricketers Sportspeople from Alexandria English male journalists English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Egyptian emigrants to England Egyptian cricketers Egyptian people of English descent People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Honourable Artillery Company soldiers Cricket historians and writers