Miner with a fast arm

Arthur Jepson, who has died aged 82, bowled for Nottinghamshire for two summers before the war and 14 after it. Retiring in 1959, aged 44, he was at once recruited to the first-class umpires` list.

He stood in four Tests in the 1960s and continued to do so in county cricket until 1984. He was a popular, jovial sportsman who kept goal in turn for Port Vale, Stoke City and Lincoln City.

Jepson came from the colliery town of Selston, within the coalfield which in the past produced a regular supply of cricketers to Trent Bridge. It was said that the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire clubs had only to whistle down the pit-shaft and up would come a fast bowler.

Jepson just overlapped with Harold Larwood and played alongside Bill Voce and Harold Butler. He was, in fact, almost the last of the line of Nottinghamshire`s mining stock, a fastish bowler with a rather low arm who had just established his place in the side when war cut six years from his playing life.

In 1947, he took 115 wickets and in 390 matches he took 1,015 wickets at 29 runs apiece and made 6,369 runs with an average of 14.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)