Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

84 The Wooller Way as Glamorgan subsided to an innings defeat at Chelmsford, before losing three of their next four games. First, they lost to Middlesex at Swansea, before being beaten by Worcestershire at Ebbw Vale followed by a defeat to Yorkshire at Sheffield. During this time, Allan could easily have been forgiven for thinking that he would have been better off getting himself ready for the forthcoming football season making doughnuts and bread in the Usk bakery, besides going for occasional runs along the country lanes and playing cricket for the local club. Allan made only modest contributions with bat and ball during this period, but with nobody else pressing a claim for a place, he had retained his position in Glamorgan’s line-up by mid-August when he was scheduled to return to Plymouth for their pre-season training. Despite his lack of runs and wickets, Johnnie wanted the jovial all-rounder to stay with the Welsh cricketers, especially as several others were struggling with aches and pains after their first full summer of cricket for many years. “Do you think you could stay for one more match?” asked Johnnie, shortly after Allan, ironically, had said farewell to his team-mates. A phone-call was duly made to the Plymouth manager who agreed to release Allan for a few days from the pre-season training. 3 The match in question was against Surrey at Cardiff Arms Park and, in front of a crowd not far short of 10,000, Allan struck his maiden Championship hundred in just under three hours at the crease. “An innings of great promise” was one of the comments in the local press which spectators read the following morning before Wilf claimed 4/19 as Surrey were forced to follow-on 204 runs in arrears. They fared a little bit better second time around as Johnnie took 6/71, and on the final afternoon, just two runs were needed by Glamorgan to record a ten-wicket victory over the brown hatters. Haydn Davies and Peter Judge opened the innings but the former departed in the opening over, so it was Allan who gleefully struck the winning runs. After returning to the pavilion, Allan quietly looked through the telegrams and other letters of goodwill which had been sent following his maiden century. Amongst the pile of mail was a telegram from Bill Hitch which said “I always believed in you. Well done!” Another came from Trevor Arnott and said “keep your chin up and take your success calmly and you should have a good future.” There was also a pencil-written note from his former headmaster in Usk which had been handed in via a steward. It said “I am delighted to have seen your first century. May you build