Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

46 Swansea becomes a county ground Improved facilities were also created for the team of groundsmen who looked after the cricket square and rugby pitch. They were led by Harry Creber, the left-arm spinner, who had moved from Liverpool in 1898 to accept a post with the Swansea club, and remained at St. Helen’s until his death in 1939. He also became a stalwart in Glamorgan’s Minor County side and in 1905 became the Club’s first-ever bowler to claim over a hundred wickets in a season. During the season, his wickets cost 15 runs apiece, with returns of 13/82 against Wiltshire at Chippenham and 11/148 in the match with the MCC at Cardiff Arms Park. He repeated the feat in 1906 with 112 victims at 13 runs apiece, and during the 1908 match with Carmarthenshire, he came agonisingly close to becoming the first Glamorgan player to take all ten wickets in an innings. In the end, Creber finished with career-best figures of 9/56 and completely baffled the inexperienced Carmarthenshire batsmen. Creber was past his best by the time Glamorgan were elevated to the County Championship, but he still managed to claim 95 wickets, albeit at the cost of 26 apiece, and all at the age of 50! After retiring from playing, Creber also became a well-known bird fancier, and won many prizes at shows with his Yorkshire canaries. A man renowned for his stoicism, he never wore an overcoat whilst tending the ground, even on the coldest of winter days and when the All Whites were playing on the rugby ground, Harry would always be in shirt-sleeves with his shirt open at the neck. Harry died at his home in the Uplands on 27March 1939, and one can only imagine what the stalwart of sport at St. Helen’s would have said as the war clouds loomed yet again, bringing an end for many the happy days of The impressive new Pavilion, created after construction work during 1929/30.