Thomas Wells

Thomas Umfrey Wells (6 February 1927 – 30 July 2001) was a New Zealand-born first-class cricketer and educator who played first-class cricket in England in the early 1950s. All but one of his appearances were for Cambridge University, but he also played one match for Worcestershire in 1950. Life and career Wells was educated at King's College, Auckland, and the University of Auckland where he was awarded blues for cricket in 1948 and 1949 and was captain in 1949. He then won an Orford Studentship for King's College, Cambridge. He made his first-class debut for Cambridge against the touring West Indians at Fenner's in May 1950, though his part in the match was small, not batting, holding a single catch and bowling three wicketless overs for 28. The game itself was a very high scoring draw: John Dewes (183) and David Sheppard (227) put on 343 for Cambridge's first wicket, and the university declared at 594/4. In reply the tourists piled up 703/3, including a career-best 304 not out by Everton Weekes. Wells made more of an impact in his second game, against Leicestershire, where his unbeaten 77 was the highest score of his first-class career. He also picked up the first of his handful of wickets when he bowled Leicestershire's Australian batsman Vic Jackson. His only other half-century came just a week later when he notched 53 against the Free Foresters.