Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

72 Restarting and regrouping massive loss of weight as a P.O.W. ruled out any thoughts of a return to the rugby field. Cricket, though, was still a possibility, and when he met up with Johnnie during January 1946, he readily agreed to help out. At a subsequent meeting a few weeks later, he also expressed an interest in the possibility of succeeding Johnnie as Glamorgan’s captain in 1947. The suggestion of taking over the captaincy was a hugely attractive proposition for Wilf and, as his health steadily improved, he made arrangements with Alf Gover, the former Surrey and England bowler, to spend some time during the Spring of 1946 at his Indoor Cricket School in the London area. As Wilf later recalled: “The only problem was that apart from the knockabout games in Changhi, I had not batted or bowled for nigh on seven years. I didn’t think that I had lost my ability, but I felt somewhat rusty and with the spectre of regular county cricket looming for the first-ever time, I thought that I should be well prepared. As a result, I spent several weeks at Alf Gover’s Indoor School. At first, Alf didn’t recognise me, neither did several of the other county players who were also at his school, seeking to regain their touch.” 4 Wilf’s huge determination to get himself back into shape was greatly appreciated by Johnnie, and during the course of the season, the 48-year-old was Wilf’s tutor in the ways and wiles of Championship cricket. As the only survivor of Glamorgan’s inaugural summer of first-class cricket, Johnnie had a treasure trove of recollections to pass on, and there could not have been a finer tutor for Wilf to listen to, as the pair of amateurs regularly shared a room on away matches besides spending many long hours discussing tactics and chewing the cud about a host of opposing players. One of Wilf’s earliest lessons related to some of the professional tricks employed by certain counties, with an example occurring at Sheffield when Glamorgan set Yorkshire a target of 179 to win on the final day. The Bramall Lane wicket was deteriorating and helping the slower bowlers, so the Glamorgan players went to bed early, expecting a tough battle the next day. But, as Wilf later remembered: “In the small hours of themorning, I waswokenby a thunderstorm which sent torrents of rain thudding up against the windows of our bedroom. It soon woke Johnnie as well, and we peered out through the curtains to see the streets, illuminated by flashes of