Chapter Twenty-Three Welsh Fervour In a period between the wars which was besieged by economic hardship and clouded by political unrest, the holiday games provided a welcome break. From the Championship, through the Minor Counties – Northumberland v Durham, Cornwall against Devon or Dorset, Lincolnshire v Cambridgeshire – and down through the leagues to the village green, they pitted neighbour against neighbour, allowing easier journeys by train, tram, coach and, increasingly for those who could afford it, by car. In 1921 Glamorgan, founded at Cardiff in 1888, joined the ranks of the first-class counties. They finished last in the 1921 Championship, suffering a similar fate in 1925 and 1929; indeed only on two occasions was their final placing in single figures, eighth in 1926 and seventh in 1937. A cumulative table for the period shows only Worcestershire and, inevitably, Northamptonshire, beneath them. Nevertheless they fielded some fine individuals: Maurice Turnbull, a batsman who became the first Glamorgan player to appear in a Test match, Johnnie Clay, who developed into a fine off spinner and useful batsman in a career which lasted from 1921 until 1949; batsmen such as Dai and Emrys Davies, Arnold Dyson, Eddie Bates and John Bell and the bowlers Frank Ryan and Jack Mercer. County secretaries consulted the railway timetables for journeys to Cardiff and Swansea. Cardiff Arms Park, situated in the centre of the city on the banks of the River Taff, saw Glamorgan play there until 1966 when the ground was redeveloped as the Welsh National Rugby Stadium, the county then using Sophia Gardens. By contrast the St Helen’s Ground at Swansea is a mile and a half west of the city centre, on the foreshore of Swansea Bay. As the 17th county, Glamorgan were left without holiday opponents. The problem was solved in what turned out to be the best possible way, by arranging matches against the tourists. They faced a formidable task in the first of these when the 1921 Australians came to Swansea over the August Bank Holiday. The Australians had been at Portsmouth over Whitsuntide, where they easily defeated the Combined Services, with 132 from one of the greatest of all left-handers Warren Bardsley and seven for 52 from Jack Gregory among the best individual performances. Bardsley made another hundred at Swansea, where the Australians piled up 461 for eight declared in response to Glamorgan’s 213, Riches and Bates each getting into the 70s. The game was unfinished but Glamorgan had not disgraced themselves and 1922 must have been something of an anti-climax. There was no touring team that season and August Bank Holiday was spent defeating a combined Oxford and Cambridge University. Morale had been low in 1923 as the team suffered a number of setbacks but a victory over Gloucestershire at the end of July left them in good heart for the Bank Holiday match against the West Indies at Cardiff Arms Park. The tourists had not then been elevated to Test status but, under the captaincy of HBG Austin, 107