Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

56 Chapter Six Triumph and tragedy The Glamorgan side of the late 1930s was a very different animal to the one at the end of the previous decade. It was clear to all and sundry that under the leadership of Maurice Turnbull and Johnnie Clay the daffodil county now meant business in professional cricket and were no longer content to be the Cinderella of the county game. Evidence of their progress came during 1937 as the Club rose up to the giddy heights of seventh place in the Championship table. Such an outcome had seemed unlikely the year before when financial problems briefly resurfaced. A series of rain-affected games saw gate receipts plummet by £3,000, and when the officials met in mid-August 1936, the financial sub-committee reported: “our costs are so high at the moment and if we are to continue in the County Championship, we should scrap the 2 nd XI and release Mr. Hitch as the Club’s coach.” 1 They also recommended a cut in the professionals’ wages in the summer from £5 to £4 per week, and from £3 to £2 during the winter. Maurice dutifully met with each of the paid players and explained that the alternative to these cuts would be their release and the unfortunate disbanding of the 2 nd XI. There were a few dark mutterings from some, but it bore testament to his outstanding relationship with them that they all agreed to these new terms of conditions. Jack Mercer even went as far as writing a letter to the committee to say: “I am quite happy for my wages to be cut if it means that some of the junior professionals could stay on the staff, and for Mr. Turnbull and Mr. Clay to continue their work in unearthing the next generation of Glamorgan cricketers.” 2 It was a magnanimous gesture by the veteran who, with his best years behind him, was starting to consider the next stage of his career and a move into coaching. Jack believed that if he kept the Club’s hierarchy sweet, he might get further and prolonged employment with the Welsh county. It did not subsequently turn