Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

100 The summer of 1948 was another and, as Allan Watkins remembered, Wilf was adamant that the bowlers should stick to the field they had been given and woe betide anyone who did not follow Wilf’s instructions: “There would be variations if the bowler thought there should be variation – he’d {Wilf} would stop and listen. I bowled in- duckers so I had three short-legs, a fine-leg and two more back on the leg-side, one slip, cover point and mid-off. If the ball was swinging more, the man from square would go back to make two behind, but he was mostly square. And if I strayed and bowled one down the off-side, Wilf would be at forward short-leg and he’d give me a look.” 4 The stare from Wilf would frequently be followed by the words “What do you think you are bloody well doing?” Few bowlers would err again or would want to so publicly cross swords with their captain. But Wilf’s captaincy was more than just bluff, bluster and barbed comments. There was another, very clever, element to his strategy, especially when dealing with potential interruptions by the weather when playing at their various home games. Mopping up had rarely been an issue at the Arms Park or Rodney Parade because the Cardiff and Newport clubs possessed decent covers. Swansea was also a quick-drying ground as the St. Helen’s ground had been created during Victorian times on top Gilbert Parkhouse makes a smart stop in the slips during Glamorgan’s match with Leicestershire at Swansea during August 1949.