William Eric Bowes (25 July 1908 – 4 September 1987) 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. He took 1,639 wickets with a best performance of nine for 121 and completed ten wickets in a match 27 times. He 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. He did not rate himself as a fielder but he nevertheless held 138 catches.
Bowes played for Yorkshire and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He 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. He made fifteen appearances for England in Test cricket and took part in the 1932–33 Bodyline series. He took 68 Test wickets at the creditable average of 22.33 with a best performance of six for 33. 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.
During the war, Bowes was commissioned in the British Army as a gunnery officer and served in North Africa until he was captured, along with over 30,000 other Allied troops, after the fall of Tobruk in June 1942. He spent three years in Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps and lost over four stone in weight. He continued playing for two seasons after the war but, weakened by his experiences, could only bowl at medium pace. After he retired from playing, he became a coach with Yorkshire and worked for The Yorkshire Post as a cricket writer.
Early life
Bill Bowes was born in Elland on 25 July 1908. His father, John Bowes, was a railwayman whose job with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway caused the family to relocate often. In 1914, they settled in Armley, Leeds, after he became a goods superintendent there. In his 1949 autobiography, Express Deliveries, Bowes says that he never had any boyhood aspiration to become a professional cricketer, rather he "just slipped into the game". He played street cricket with other boys and he began watching the local Armley club, whose ground was near his home. He 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". Bowes went on to represent his two schools, Armley Park Council School and West Leeds High School, at cricket. At the latter, he gained his school cap after taking a hat trick. He 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. In his debut match for Kirkstall's second team, he took six wickets for only five runs, including a hat trick, and the spectators organised a collection for him. 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.
With no apparent interest from Yorkshire at this stage, an approach was made to Warwickshire and they responded by offering Bowes a trial in April 1928. At the trial, he bowled on "a net pitch of matting laid on concrete". Among the batsmen facing him were Pelham Warner and the MCC assistant secretary Ronnie Aird.
Soon afterwards, he was contacted by Yorkshire's secretary Frederick Toone following a request to Yorkshire by John Kaye.
Cricket career
1928 to 1929
Bowes gained valuable early experience with the Lord's ground staff and was especially grateful for coaching he received from Walter Brearley. He began his first-class career playing for MCC in 1928. Still aged nineteen, he made his first-class debut 30 May to 1 June playing against Wales at Lord's, taking three for 37 and two for 32. Neither Bowes himself nor J. M. Kilburn saw merit in that game which is currently rated first-class by CricketArchive. Kilburn wrote that Bowes' "first match of first-class rating" was MCC v Cambridge University played 4 to 6 July at Lord's. This achievement was noted in Yorkshire and, although Bowes did not play in any further first-class matches in 1928, the county club included him in their plans for 1929.
Bowes made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Oxford University at The Parks 8 to 10 May 1929. He took two for 28 and none for 40. In Yorkshire's next match, against Essex at the County Ground, Leyton, Bowes made his County Championship debut. He joined a full Yorkshire team that included the all-time greats Wilfred Rhodes and Herbert Sutcliffe. It also included Emmott Robinson, the great character of Yorkshire cricket who was much eulogised by Neville Cardus, and Robinson willingly became Bowes' mentor in his early Yorkshire career. 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. Yorkshire won by an innings and 37 runs, Maurice Leyland having scored 134.
Yorkshire at this time was in a period of transition. They had won the championship four times between 1922 and 1925 but had since then been overshadowed by their great rivals Lancashire who had won the title in each of the preceding three seasons. In 1929, Yorkshire and Lancashire tied on points as runners-up, the title going to Nottinghamshire. Yorkshire's team relied on the experience and leadership of the veterans Rhodes and Robinson and on the expertise of established professionals like Sutcliffe, his opening partner Percy Holmes, Leyland and bowler George Macaulay. Otherwise, the team consisted of up and coming players who were effectively on trial and there was competition for places. Bowes, for example, had Frank Dennis as his main rival for the role of pace bowler. Other aspiring players active in 1929 were Wilf Barber, Horace Fisher, Arthur Wood and Cyril Turner while Arthur Mitchell had gained his county cap the previous year. Waiting in the wings, however, was Hedley Verity who was then playing in the Lancashire League and made his Yorkshire debut in 1930. Bowes' best bowling return in 1929 was an outstanding eight for 77 in late July against Leicestershire at the Dewsbury and Savile Ground. Yorkshire's view of his contribution is unclear and Kilburn wrote that they "were not, apparently, convinced". In 1930, he took 101 wickets at 19.54 with a best return of eight for 69. 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.
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. England replied with 548 for seven declared, including 336* by Wally Hammond. It was a three-day match and the final day was ruined by rain, New Zealand scoring sixteen without loss as the game ended in a draw.
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 1934, Yorkshire lost the title to Lancashire. 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 the 1936 season, Bowes was plagued by a series of minor injuries. Doubts about his fitness prevented him touring Australia though he headed the County Championship bowling averages.
In 1936, Yorkshire conceded the title to neighbours Derbyshire. 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.
In 1938, as Yorkshire won their twentieth title, Bowes took 121 first-class wickets at 15.23 with a best return of six for 32.
1946 to 1947
After the war, Bowes could only bowl medium-pace for short spells, due to his age and the effects of his incarceration.
In 1945, Bowes in his only first-class match took three for 22.
Colin Bateman wrote that 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". They were married at St Peter's Church, Harrow, on 30 September 1933 and had two children Tony (born 1935) and Vera (1939). Bowes was a devoted family man who loved walking his dog.
After he retired from playing, Bowes was a bowling coach at Yorkshire for many years and worked with, among others, the young Fred Trueman. Bowes had greater ability as a writer and became a cricket correspondent for Leeds-based newspaper The Yorkshire Post.