Arthur Brian Sellers was an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
amateurAmateur status in first-class cricket had a special meaning, especially in England, in that the amateur in this context was not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of first-class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateurs...
first-class cricketFirst-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
er, who played in 334 first-class matches for
Yorkshire County Cricket ClubYorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
between 1932 and 1948, and later became a prominent administrator at the club.
Career
Sellers was born in
KeighleyKeighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
,
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and was a middle-order right-handed batsman of modest attainments, and close fielder. His cricketing significance relates almost entirely to his
captaincyThe captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
of the successful Yorkshire side, both before and after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He played regularly for Yorkshire in 1932, and often captained the side in his debut season in the absence of the regular captain,
Frank GreenwoodFrank Edwards Greenwood was an English first-class cricketer, who played 57 games for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1929 and 1932. The tradition of the time demanded that Yorkshire have an amateur captain and Greenwood was appointed skipper in 1931, when he was also awarded his cap, and...
. When Greenwood resigned at the end of that season, Sellers was appointed captain for 1933, and then held the post until 1948, when he retired.
During Sellers' ten seasons of captaincy, Yorkshire won the
County ChampionshipThe County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
six times, making him one of the most successful county captains of all time, rivalled only by Lord Hawke and
Stuart SurridgeWalter Stuart Surridge was a cricketer who played for Surrey. He was born at Herne Hill in south London, educated at Emanuel School, and died at Glossop in Derbyshire....
. Intensely competitive, Sellers led by example in the field, where he always fielded close to the bat, and though his batting figures were modest – he hit 1,000 runs in a season only three times, despite regularly playing more than 30 matches a season, and made only four centuries in his career – he tended to make runs when they were needed. His score of 204, playing against
Cambridge UniversityCambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
in 1936, was the only double-century recorded by any Yorkshire amateur player. His Yorkshire teams included many
EnglandThe England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
players, including
Herbert SutcliffeHerbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
, Leonard Hutton,
Hedley VerityHedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
,
Bill BowesBill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
, and
Maurice LeylandMaurice Leyland , christened 'Morris Leyland', was an English cricketer who played 41 Test matches between 1928 and 1938 and proved himself one of the best left-handers of his generation....
.
After leading Yorkshire to the Championship title for three consecutive years to 1939, Sellers was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1940 edition of
Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
.
Both during his playing career and afterwards, Sellers was an England
TestTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
team selector, and in retirement he served on Yorkshire committees, taking a prominent and influential role in many of the controversies that surrounded the county club in the 1960 and early 1970s.
Sellers died in February 1981, at
EldwickEldwick is a small village near Bingley, West Yorkshire. It is split up into two main parts, Eldwick, the main populated part, and High Eldwick, the larger but less populated section, situated on Bingley Moor.- Landmarks :...
,
BingleyBingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
, Yorkshire.