Bill Bell

Wisden Obituary
Bell, William, who died in Auckland on July 23, 2002, aged 70, played two Tests for New Zealand in South Africa in 1953-54. He bowled leg-spin and came into the reckoning for that tour because Alex Moir was out of favour with the selectors. "Players like Bell," wrote the former Auckland leg-spinner Raoul Garrard, "have apparently been chosen only because we must have bowlers of their type." At the time Bill Bell had taken only 11 wickets in his five games for Canterbury and Auckland. When he took four for 31 against Eastern Province early in the tour, he looked worth the punt. His control was good and both his leg-break and googly turned sharply. That return, however, would be his best in a 33-game career that ran from 1949-50 to 1958-59, with 44 wickets at 40.52 and 170 runs at an average (helped by not-outs) of 10.00. His Tests were at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth; his two wickets cost 235 runs.