Player profile

Full name William Robert Stephens
Born Farnborough, April 30, 1971
NicknameKing Billy, Baldie
Batting style Right-hand middle-order
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height 5 ft 11 in
Clubs Merrow
School XI 1987 to 1989
OC Career 1989 to 2007

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat		Inns		NO		HS		Runs		Ave		50		100		Ct		St
OCCC	76		56		6		72		1124		22.48		6		0		39		0

Bowling averages

	Overs		Mdns		Runs		Wkts		Ave		Best		5WI		SR		Econ
OCCC	352.0		52		1360		52		26.15		4-10		0		40.6		3.9

Notes

Major Tours: Antigua 1997, Sri Lanka 1999, Kenya 2001

Profile

The trouble for Will was that he was turned off some of the things that he excelled at – at there are many – by being overexposed to them at Cranleigh. Music was one; cricket, sadly, was another. An talented batsman who relied on his natural eye to cover-up technical flaws, Will scored three hundreds in his final end-of-term festival at Cranleigh and for several seasons showed frustratingly inconsistent glimpses of what he was capable of when batting for the OCs. A superb player of spin, especially off his legs, he was less comfortable against quick bowling. His bowling, a skiddy medium-pace, was surprisingly effective, especially abroad – in Antigua and Kenya he was at his most deadly. As a short-leg he was one of the finest seen on Jubilee, all the more remarkable given that he wore glasses. Fearless (often to the point of stupidity – he would, if spurred, get so close to the batsman that the umpire had to intervene), he took some breathtaking catches but so good was his eye that he was rarely struck. Off the field he was a key player, his ability to undertake any ridiculous challenge providing some memorable evenings and one or two hospital visits. By the end of the Kenyan tour he had grown so weary of the game that he retired, still short of his 30th birthday. What might have he achieved had he been more turned on to the game?

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