There has probably never been a great cricketer who looked less like one than Bowes. Standing 6ft 4in, he was clumsily built and a poor mover. Wearing strong spectacles, he looked far more like a university professor, and indeed batted and fielded like one. However, no side has been so closely welded as Yorkshire in the 1920s and 1930s: every man knew just what he was expected to do and did it without being told. When Bowes suggested that it might be a good thing if he were taught the rudiments of batting, he was told firmly that his job was to take wickets; he was not to waste his valuable strength on making runs. If he ever showed signs of forgetting this, his partners were expected to run him out. Similarly in the field. He was stationed at mid-on and, if the ball came to him, he was to catch it or stop it as the case might be. But if it passed him, he was not to move; it was someone else's duty to chase it and throw it in. This was fully understood on the Yorkshire side. After all, Bowes was their great opener and they had no alternative to him.

The achievements of this great Fast Bowler have already been recorded and he played a major part in the famous Body Line Tour to Australia in 1932. He was still playing for Yorkshire when I saw my first County Cricket in 1947 and he was actually in the same class as my father at school. In those days Cricket was more popular even than Football and I often wonder why Bowes was never given the recognition he deserved, by the School. In my time at school his name was never mentioned, despite him being the Cricket Correspondent for first the Yorkshire Evening News and subsequently the Evening Post at the time as well as bowling coach at Yorkshire at the time Trueman, Close and Illingworth were discovered. It was said in those days that a cockney was someone born within the sound of Bow Bells and a Yorkshireman was someone born within the sight of Bill Bowes. By Peter Foy 11th Feb 2003

Howzat! Billl Bowes bowls out Don Bradman for a duck on his first ball. 2nd Test Match, Melbourne, in the 1932/33 Bodyline Series in Australia.

Here is a copy of his biography from the ECB website: Of academic appearance- tall, bespectacled, and with an abstracted air, Bill Bowes was an extremely effective opening bowler for Yorkshire and England. Whilst not of the highest pace, he had the ability to move the ball both ways at speed, had a nasty bouncer, and bowled few loose balls. David Frith described his approach as "ungainly, almost shambling", but the final delivery was powerful, with a pronounced flick of the wrist. He was one of Jardine's quartet of fast bowlers in the Bodyline tour (although he played but one Test and took only one wicket, Bradman, first ball), and employed leg theory on occasion in county games. His best years for England were after the Bodyline series, and despite several years as a prisoner of war during WW2, returned to play two more seasons after the war, although his pace had dropped to medium. He took more first class wickets than he scored runs, which indicates the quality of his batting, and he had few pretensions as a fielder, but as a fast bowler, he was highly effective. After retirement he turned his hand to journalism, as a correspondent for Yorkshire papers (Dave Liverman, 1998).

Wisden Cricket of the year 1932 Test bowling average of 22.33
By Iain Sharp 28th Sep 2001