Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

9 Fairytale or nightmare? modest target in order to entertain the crowd before catching their tea-time express train back to Birmingham. This opening contest was followed during August 1889 by away games against the MCC plus Surrey Club and Ground, with the latter seeing Glamorgan record their first-ever victory, winning by six wickets at The Oval. 1890 saw Glamorgan secure their first win at home as they defeated Monmouthshire by an innings at Cardiff, but heavy defeats followed in the other seven games which included a visit by the MCC to the St. Helen’s ground in Swansea. As defeat followed defeat during the early 1890s it looked as if the new organisation would go the same way as the Glamorganshire club which had been created in 1868, again through the encouragement of JTD, only to disband within eight years, bereft of financial support and talent. But the economy of South Wales, and Cardiff in particular, was far more buoyant during the 1890s, and Glamorgan were fortunate to have the support on and off the field of leading members of the business community. Pre-eminent amongst these was Jack Brain, the former Gloucestershire and Oxford University batsman who played a pivotal role in the events which unfolded during the closing years of the nineteenth century, with the Chairman of Brains Brewery masterminding the Club’s entry into the Minor County Championship in 1897 and their subsequent success in becoming joint-winners of the second-class competition in 1900. Jack led by example on the field by playing a series of match-winning innings. Off the field he persuaded other members of the local business community to part with their cash in order to boost the wafer-thin funds of the Club. The other guiding principle behind the Club’s formation, alluded to by JTD in his suggestion that the Club could “fly at a higher game” was to bring international cricket to South Wales. Any idea which entailed thousands of thirsty cricket supporters – basking for many hours in warm Welsh sunshine – watching matches at Cardiff Arms Park, just a six-hit away from many of the city centre taverns supplied with Brains beer, made perfect business sense for Jack. He was also fully aware of the influence of – and benefits enjoyed by – Ansell’s Brewery, in the rise of Warwickshire as a county cricket club and Edgbaston as a Test Match ground. Consequently, the influential and well connected captain of Glamorgan led a campaign during 1904 for Cardiff to host the