Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

43 Swansea becomes a county ground the great and the good of sport in South Wales. 2 Bill’s death had been a tragic prelude to Glamorgan’s inaugural summer as a Minor County, with the Club’s first win duly coming at Swansea during July 1897, and all by the mammoth margin of 233 runs. It was a contest which also saw two other records being created as in their second innings, Cornwall were dismissed for 25 – still the lowest total ever made in any match against Glamorgan – whilst in Cornwall’s first innings, Sam Lowe, the Cardiff professional took the first hat-trick recorded by a Glamorgan bowler. Lowe was a thirty-year old seam bowler who had had a brief career with Nottinghamshire, appearing for his native county once in 1894. He subsequently joined Cardiff and acted as groundsman-professional at the Arms Park until 1906. His younger brother Richard followed him to South Wales and was also in the Glamorgan side for this match with Cornwall. He too had first-class experience with Nottinghamshire and Sussex, and together with his brother held a regular place in the Glamorgan side until the early 1900s. Sam Lowe could be quite a hostile bowler, even on the slow St. Helen’s wicket, and his hat-trick against Cornwall in 1897 was described as follows by a local newspaper: “[Sam] Hosking, who had laboured for twenty minutes for just one was caught in the slips off Lowe, who had had downright bad luck to date. But with his next ball, the Cardiff bowler knocked over the middle stump of [Philip] Colville Smith, the Cornwall captain, and with his next, he bowled [Christopher] Trevarthen, so performing the hat-trick and gaining unstinted applause from the small band of spectators who had gathered at the St. Helen’s ground.” 3 Glamorgan had batted disappointingly in their first innings, but Lowe’s spirited efforts helped Glamorgan to an 11-run lead. They fared much better in their second innings with Billy Bancroft and Bertie Letcher each making attractive fifties during a century partnership for the second wicket. Both eventually fell to Jesse Hide, who finished the match with fourteen victims. As a result of Hide’s excellent bowling, Cornwall were left a target of 259 in the three hours and twenty minutes that remained. It seemed a reasonable target, but they collapsed in dramatic fashion within the space of just three-quarters of an hour, and were bowled out for a paltry 25. Sam Lowe and William Lambert both took five wickets, and, along with the rest of Jack Brain’s side, they were given a standing ovation as they left the field by the home crowd, few of whom could quite believe how easily and quickly Glamorgan had achieved their first win in the Minor County Championship. Whilst Billy Bancroft played a passive role in this particular victory, he took centre-stage in other victories by Glamorgan over Minor County opposition. For example, in 1899 he enjoyed a fine game against Surrey 2 nd XI, scoring 102, and taking a career-best 5/20 with his seam bowling. In the course of the next four years, In the years leading up to the Great War,