Evelyn Wellings

{{short description|Egyptian-born English cricketer and journalist}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Lyn Wellings

| image = File:E. M. Wellings.jpg

| country =

| fullname = Evelyn Maitland Wellings

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|4|6|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Sidi Gaber, Alexandria, Egypt

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|9|10|1909|4|6|df=yes}}

| death_place = Basingstoke, Hampshire, England

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling = Right-arm off-spin

| club1 = Oxford University

| year1 = 1928 – 1931

| club2 = Surrey

| year2 = 1931

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 36

| runs1 = 836

| bat avg1 = 20.39

| 100s/50s1 = 1/4

| top score1 = 125

| deliveries1 = 7226

| wickets1 = 108

| bowl avg1 = 30.14

| fivefor1 = 5

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 6/75

| catches/stumpings1 = 10/–

| date = 25 January 2017

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22841.html Cricinfo

}}

Evelyn Maitland "Lyn" Wellings (6 April 1909 – 10 September 1992) was an Egyptian-born English cricketer and journalist, who played for Oxford University and Surrey.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/33/33727/33727.html|title=Evelyn Wellings|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=16 February 2010}}

Life and career

Lyn Wellings was born in 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 and going on to Cheltenham College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Classics.David Frith, "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 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.{{cite web |title=First-class Bowling in Each Season by Evelyn Wellings |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/33/33727/f_Bowling_by_Season.html |website=CricketArchive |accessdate=23 April 2020}} At the start of the season he took his best first-class figures of 6 for 75 against Leicestershire,{{cite web |title=Oxford University v Leicestershire 1931 |url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1931/ENG_LOCAL/UNIV/OX-UNIV_LEICS_UNIV_13-15MAY1931.html |website=Cricinfo |accessdate=23 April 2020}} and in the final match he took seven wickets when Oxford beat Cambridge in the University Match at Lord's.{{cite web |title=Oxford University v Cambridge University 1931 |url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1931/ENG_LOCAL/UNIV/OX-UNIV_CAMB-UNIV_UNIV_06-08JUL1931.html |website=Cricinfo |accessdate=23 April 2020}}

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 and the London Evening News, the latter between 1938 and 1973,{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228731.html|title=Obituaries in 1992|date=1993|work=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|publisher=John Wisden & Co|accessdate=16 February 2010}} with the exception of war service in the Honourable Artillery Company.{{cite web |date=19 April 2020|last1=Chandler |first1=Martin |title=He Dipped His Pen in Vitriol |url=http://www.cricketweb.net/he-dipped-his-pen-in-vitriol |website=Cricket Web |accessdate=23 April 2020}} He wrote the annual review of Public Schools cricket in Wisden from 1945 to 1972.

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