The forgotten hero whose record Sobers hit for six

Having now bought the yellow-covered “cricketers’ bible”, for 70 years, I notice that the latest edition still contains an unfortunate omission. Possibly the most famous cricketing record of all was the day at Swansea in 1968 when the great West Indian all-rounder Gary Sobers became the first batsman to hit six sixes in an over.

But for a long time has failed to tell us who was the holder of the record Sobers broke; and I was sorry to see that, despite a cheery assurance last year from its editor, this has still not been rectified.

The answer is that, pre-Sobers, only one batsman, Arthur Wellard of Somerset, had ever hit five sixes in an over, and he did it not once but twice.

When Wellard came in to bat in the first county match I ever saw, at the age of eight, my father told me that he was at the time the greatest six-hitter in the game. He had first done it in 1936 on the little ground in Wells, near where I live. He then did it again in 1938 on the same ground, when he hit five sixes off another great all-rounder, Frank Woolley of Kent.

Curiously, the city of Wells was also linked to Sobers’ record, because the hapless bowler he hit out of the ground in Swansea, Malcolm Nash, was educated at Wells Cathedral School. But Wellard does get a mention in among the batsmen who have hit most sixes in an English season. Top of the list is Somerset’s Ian Botham in 1985. In sixth place is Viv Richards, playing for Somerset in the same year. But places two to five are all occupied by A W Wellard. Next year’s should reinstate him as “the man whose record Sobers broke”.