Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

71 Restarting and regrouping But, without any doubt, the most notable pair of helping hands which Johnnie acquired were those of another Welsh sporting giant and probably the only man capable of stepping into Maurice’s shoes. The man in question was Wilf Wooller, who had appeared as an amateur before the War, and had mixed a hugely successful rugby career with playing for Glamorgan. Born and brought up in Rhos-on-Sea, Wilf was one of the young sportsmen who had been nurtured at Rydal School by Donald Boumphrey, a talented all-round sportsman and inspirational coach who had also fought courageously during the Great War. Whilst still at school, Wilf played cricket for both Denbighshire and Lancashire 2 nd XI, besides winning the first of eighteen Welsh rugby caps and, on debut in 1932/33, becoming a member of the first-ever Welsh side to win at Twickenham. He was also in the Welsh team that defeated the 1935 All Blacks. 3 After winning Blues for cricket and rugby at Cambridge, Wilf worked in the coal trade – both in North Africa and South Wales – besides furthering his rugby career with Cardiff RFC. Initially, Wooller had little time for county cricket, playing just at the weekends for St. Fagans CC, but Maurice knew of Wilf’s prowess at cricket, and following a number of favourable scouting reports on his bowling by Jack Mercer, the Glamorgan captain persuaded the burly all-rounder to turn out for the Welsh county during 1938 when the side was badly affected by injury. Wilf characteristically had an immediate impact, taking 5/90 on his debut against Yorkshire, and the following year he was able, with the blessing of his boss Sir Herbert Merritt – a kindly patron to many Welsh sports – to take off more time from his work at Cardiff Docks. He made nine further appearances for the county during 1939 and also showed his prowess with the bat, including a two-hour century against the West Indian tourists which saw Glamorgan to a 73-run victory. Before the War, Wilf had regarded county cricket as little more than a brief and jovial respite from his duties in the coal metropolis. This changed afterwards, following three years of internment when he was a prisoner of war in Changhi and other camps in the Far East. During his time in captivity, Wilf had been one of the many men forced to work on the notorious Death Railway, and his grim experiences coloured the rest of his sporting career, as well as his adult life in general. Wilf had been liberated during the summer of 1945, but his