Bill Bowes vs Ken Higgs

[PlayerComparisons]

.

 

[sayon basak]

Bill Bowes performance when at least one of Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, George Headley, Denis Compton, Dudley Nourse, Vijay Merchant, Stan McCabe or Bruce Mitchell was batting for the opponent team (the number of times he took their wicket is provided in the brackets, along with some additional information if required):

110 innings, 263 wickets @ 22.09

vs Jack Hobbs:
11 innings, 35 wickets @ 18.77 (4 times)

vs Wally Hammond:
27 innings, 71 wickets @ 20.62 (11 times)

vs Don Bradman:
20 innings, 46 wickets @ 25.96 (5 times, all of which were in Test matches)

vs Herbert Sutcliffe:
15 innings, 26 wickets @ 25.54 (5 times)

vs Len Hutton:
1 innings, 4/53 (got Len Hutton out for 2 runs. Sutcliffe played in this match as well)

vs George Headley:
7 innings, 18 wickets @ 28.33 (once)

vs Denis Compton:
15 innings, 42 wickets @ 13.76 (twice)

vs Stan McCabe:
4 innings; 0/70 & 5/42 in one match where Don didn't play (got McCabe out in the 2nd innings); and 0/63 & 1/111 in the two matches both Don and McCabe played.

vs Vijay Merchant:
3 innings; 0/14 in a FC match, 1/64 & 0/9 in a Test match (couldn't get him out). Merchant was in the Indian squad in an MCC vs Indians match, but was absent hurt (Bowes took 1/36 & 0/24 in that match, but it was excluded in this record)

vs Bruce Mitchell:
10 innings, 19 wickets @ 28.68 (twice)

vs Dudley Nourse:
6 innings, 14 wickets @ 24.57 (twice; Mitchell played in all of these matches)

 

[ataraxia]

Bowes is a lost ATG with no exaggeration.

 

[peterhrt]

Neither was fast but both hit the pitch hard. Higgs was a seam bowler suited to English conditions. He was a decent slip catcher and had a solid defensive technique for a tailender.

Bowes was a swing bowler. In his younger days he made use of his height by sometimes bowling short to a leg-side field. With poor eyesight he offered nothing with the bat or in the field. Yorkshire were happy with that, wanting him to concentrate fully on bowling. But it cost Bowes England caps at a time when selectors favoured those contributing in more than one area.

Yorkshire won eight county championship titles out of ten between 1931 and 1946. Bowes took 848 championship wickets in those seasons when Yorkshire won the title. That is more than any other Yorkshire bowler above medium pace, including Trueman (624), Hirst (734) and Haigh (740).

 

[peterhrt]

It was often said that County Championships were won by bowlers. Those who took their teams to the title enjoyed a boost to their national reputation that was not always matched internationally. Bowes was a case in point. He took more championship wickets in seasons when his county won the title than any bowler above medium pace, not just those from Yorkshire. Leaders below. The figures include joint champions, and also winners from seasons before the competition was formalised in 1890. Number of titles in brackets in blue type.

Bowes (Yorkshire) 848 (8)
Lohmann (Surrey) 773 (7)
Haigh (Yorkshire) 740 (8)
Hirst (Yorkshire) 734 (10)
Bedser (Surrey) 714 (8)
Trueman (Yorkshire) 624 (8)
Ted McDonald (Lancashire) 588 (4)

And the same for slow bowlers:

Rhodes (Yorkshire) 1436 (12)
Verity (Yorkshire) 1020 (7)
Lock (Surrey) 889 (8)
Macaulay (Yorkshire) 879 (8)
Laker (Surrey) 770 (8)
Alfred Shaw (Notts) 607 (15)
Blythe (Kent) 562 (4)
Don Wilson (Yorkshire) 542 (7)
Illingworth (Yorkshire) 541 (7)

 

[the big bambino]

Bill Bowes performance when at least one of Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, George Headley, Denis Compton, Dudley Nourse, Vijay Merchant, Stan McCabe or Bruce Mitchell was batting for the opponent team (the number of times he took their wicket is provided in the brackets, along with some additional information if required):

110 innings, 263 wickets @ 22.09

vs Jack Hobbs:
11 innings, 35 wickets @ 18.77 (4 times)

vs Wally Hammond:
27 innings, 71 wickets @ 20.62 (11 times)

vs Don Bradman:
20 innings, 46 wickets @ 25.96 (5 times, all of which were in Test matches)

vs Herbert Sutcliffe:
15 innings, 26 wickets @ 25.54 (5 times)

vs Len Hutton:
1 innings, 4/53 (got Len Hutton out for 2 runs. Sutcliffe played in this match as well)

vs George Headley:
7 innings, 18 wickets @ 28.33 (once)

vs Denis Compton:
15 innings, 42 wickets @ 13.76 (twice)

vs Stan McCabe:
4 innings; 0/70 & 5/42 in one match where Don didn't play (got McCabe out in the 2nd innings); and 0/63 & 1/111 in the two matches both Don and McCabe played.

vs Vijay Merchant:
3 innings; 0/14 in a FC match, 1/64 & 0/9 in a Test match (couldn't get him out). Merchant was in the Indian squad in an MCC vs Indians match, but was absent hurt (Bowes took 1/36 & 0/24 in that match, but it was excluded in this record)

vs Bruce Mitchell:
10 innings, 19 wickets @ 28.68 (twice)

vs Dudley Nourse:
6 innings, 14 wickets @ 24.57 (twice; Mitchell played in all of these matches)

Thanks for this and I hope I'm not being a pedant, but I think Bowes dismissed Headley twice. He also struck him on the chest on one occasion causing Headley to lose consciousness. Headley received treatment for 5 minutes and incredibly, resumed his innings. He missed the next 3 tour matches though. This in 1933 and the match was MCC v West Indians.

 

[sayon basak]

Thanks for this and I hope I'm not being a pedant, but I think Bowes dismissed Headley twice. He also struck him on the chest on one occasion causing Headley to lose consciousness. Headley received treatment for 5 minutes and incredibly, resumed his innings. He missed the next 3 tour matches though. This in 1933 and the match was MCC v West Indians.

I'm sorry I didn't include their test encounters. I did the same mistake for Nourse, McCabe and Mitchell.

vs George Headley (correction):
11 innings, 29 wickets @ 23.65 (twice, once in Test)

vs Bruce Mitchell (correction):
18 innings, 33 wickets @ 28.99 (twice, couldn't get him out in test)

vs Dudley Nourse (correction):
12 innings, 24 wickets @ 27.62 (thrice, once in Test. Mitchell played in all of these matches)

vs Stan McCabe (correction):
In FC: 4 innings; 0/70 & 5/42 in one match where Don didn't play (got McCabe out in the 2nd innings); and 0/63 & 1/111 in the two matches both Don and McCabe played.
In Test: 11 innings, 30 wickets @ 24.7 (Got him out once in Test; Don played in all of these matches)

Overall record: 122 innings, 288 wickets @ 22.2

 

[Coronis]

It was often said that County Championships were won by bowlers. Those who took their teams to the title enjoyed a boost to their national reputation that was not always matched internationally. Bowes was a case in point. He took more championship wickets in seasons when his county won the title than any bowler above medium pace, not just those from Yorkshire. Leaders below. The figures include joint champions, and also winners from seasons before the competition was formalised in 1890. Number of titles in brackets in blue type.

Bowes (Yorkshire) 848 (8)
Lohmann (Surrey) 773 (7)
Haigh (Yorkshire) 740 (8)
Hirst (Yorkshire) 734 (10)
Bedser (Surrey) 714 (8)
Trueman (Yorkshire) 624 (8)
Ted McDonald (Lancashire) 588 (4)

And the same for slow bowlers:

Rhodes (Yorkshire) 1436 (12)
Verity (Yorkshire) 1020 (7)
Lock (Surrey) 889 (8)
Macaulay (Yorkshire) 879 (8)
Laker (Surrey) 770 (8)
Alfred Shaw (Notts) 607 (15)
Blythe (Kent) 562 (4)
Don Wilson (Yorkshire) 542 (7)
Illingworth (Yorkshire) 541 (7)

I know it was definitely the right move for him and his career money wise, but can I still be pissed we only got McDonald for 11 tests? (side note, crazy that Australia played 11 tests in that single year at the time) Also sucks that he only got to play tests after he was 30 due to WWI.

 

[sayon basak]

Thanks for this and I hope I'm not being a pedant, but I think Bowes dismissed Headley twice. He also struck him on the chest on one occasion causing Headley to lose consciousness. Headley received treatment for 5 minutes and incredibly, resumed his innings. He missed the next 3 tour matches though. This in 1933 and the match was MCC v West Indians.

BTW could you provide the source for that? Would be really helpful.

 

[Coronis]

BTW could you provide the source for that? Would be really helpful.

 

[the big bambino]

BTW could you provide the source for that? Would be really helpful.

I see Coronis has beaten me to it. Thanks Coronis. I'm useless at linking. I got it by typing in "Did Bill Bowes strike George Headley over the heart?" as a search term. It came up as an AI answer linking to resources, some of which are in Coronis' post. I first read about the incident in David Frith's enjoyable book (I think he's a terrific cricket writer) on Bodyline called Bodyline Autopsy (which was almost the case with Headley - apparently there were concerns for his life). Online I've seen it mentioned in a few articles. Once again Coronis provides some of them.

 

[the big bambino]

Btw I thoroughly recommend getting Frith's book if you can. In fact any book he's written is worth the quid.

 

[Coronis]

Btw I thoroughly recommend getting Frith's book if you can. In fact any book he's written is worth the quid.

That period in general also seems to be damning evidence against the presumption that players weren’t bowling fast enough back then. I mean we also have Woodfull’s chest issue in Bodyline. Gotta be bowling hella fast to collapse a bloke with a chest blow.

 

[the big bambino]

That period in general also seems to be damning evidence against the presumption that players weren’t bowling fast enough back then. I mean we also have Woodfull’s chest issue in Bodyline. Gotta be bowling hella fast to collapse a bloke with a chest blow.

Bowes' run up is a shambles. But Robertson - Glasgow and Frith in Bodyline Autopsy, write perceptive descriptions of his action and how he conjures pace at the bowling crease. He was a deceptive bowler and, apart from Larwood with bodyline, was the most dangerous bowler to the batsman's person in that era imo. He knew how to crunch a stump and hit a bloke and I think his action was a part of the reason. It would take some time for a batsman to assimilate the danger he represented to wicket and limb from that ambling jog to the crease.