Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

140 A very special place be continuing his innings on the second day saw long queues outside the ground soon after breakfast time. By the start of play, there were nigh on 25,000 men, women and children people inside St. Helen’s, and by the time he had elegantly reached his half-century another couple of thousand had squeezed their way in. Rain again delayed the start of the final day, and after 21 overs, the Australians set Glamorgan a target of 218 in the remaining 165 minutes. Few gave the Welsh side much of a chance, but to the delight of their supporters, Maurice Turnbull, their young captain and Eddie Bates, the former Yorkshire professional, shared a vibrant stand of 93 in just over an hour. Both men scored attractive fifties as word spread like wildfire around Swansea that Glamorgan might be about to beat Australia. By the time, many hundreds had made their excuses at work and had arrived at St. Helen’s, both batsmen had fallen to Clarrie Grimmett, and with the pressure mounting, there was a steady clatter of wickets, as Glamorgan ended 21 runs short with three wickets in hand when the umpires ended what had been a most enjoyable game, and a massive money spinner for the Welsh county. These were the days when there was a huge bank lining Gorse Lane, whilst the massive rugby grandstand towered over the outfield at the Mumbles Road End, giving the ground its amphitheatre-like quality. It could be a bit soulless during a club match, but as Johnnie Clay recalled: “The place came alive during the fixtures over the touring teams, with the games standing shoulder to shoulder alongside the rugby internationals in the diaries of Welsh sports lovers. In those years either side of the War we twice played the tourists, with the first game at Cardiff over Whitsun often being more like a run-of-the-mill game. The second match, at Swansea in August was something very different in that heady cauldron which is St. Helen’s. The huge embankment lining Gorse Lane, as seen in 1973 for the one-day international between England and New Zealand.