In my last posting I made reference to the cricket writer EM Wellings and preceded his name with the adjective 'acerbic' but whilst this I believe to be apt, one would not be short of synonyms if variety was sought. Indeed I might be accused of letting him off lightly for Ian Wooldridge described him as a man whose 'pen was dipped in vitriol'. By way of balance let's say he was a man who did not mince his words.
Older readers and in particular devotees of Wisden may well recognise the name EM Wellings as the man who for nearly 30 years edited the almanack's section on Public School Cricket and here too he took no prisoners. This was not however his sole contribution to cricket writing for from 1938 to 1973 he was cricket correspondent of The London Evening News. In this position he accompanied England sides on overseas tours and book titles like No Ashes for England, The Ashes Thrown Away and Dexter v Benaud reveal where his preference lay. Some of his books are still available.
Evelyn Maitland 'Lyn' Wellings was born in Egypt in 1906. Coming to England he went to school at Cheltenham College and then to Oxford where he gained his blue for both cricket and golf. At this early stage in life the seeds of cussedness began to bear fruit in the man and his absence from the Oxford side in 1930, he played ed in 1929 and 1931, has been attributed to his poor relationship with skipper Kingsley. Whatever the reason there is little doubt that Wellings was at a talented cricketer, a a good batsman and spin bowler. He was good enough to play for Surrey and in 1933 at Eastbourne he scored 125 for Leveson-Gowers XI v Cambridge University and took five wickets in the match.
After a short spell as a school teacher he entered journalism with The Daily Mirror before moving to the Evening News, covering more than 200 test matches in his forthright style. In his obituary Wisden lists those topics most likely to get his dander up and these included one day cricket, overseas players in county cricket, South Africa's excommunication, and just about anything to do with the TCCB. His retirement to Spain did not stop Wellings writing on cricket and on returning to live in Hampshire the articles he contributed from his home in Basingstoke showed the Spanish sun had not mellowed him. Wisden concludes with a story which illustrates how cantankerous Lyn could be. When a junior member of his paper's staff failed to turn up at The Oval to deal with his reports on the day's play he let them pile up on his desk and then posted them. 'A lesser journalist would have been fired instantly. A greater one would have behaved differently'. Wisden 1993.
When I remarked to my wife that I was going to write about Wellings I gave her a brief outline of his prejudices. Her reply was 'What would he have thought of The 100?'
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