Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

66 Swansea-by-the-sea against Lincolnshire when the decision to bat first back-fired on the Welsh county as they slumped to 59-8 with the swing and seam of Martin Maslin and Terry Barnes being almost unplayable at times. Glamorgan’s plight however was not helped by some ill-advised blows against the canny left- arm spin of John Dale. Tony Cordle and Malcolm Nash partially spared Glamorgan’s blushes with a ninth wicket stand of 87 – still the Welsh county’s best for that wicket in one-day cricket – as Glamorgan ended on 155. By the time the Minor County openers took guard, the conditions were back in the batsman’s favour, and despite a probing opening spell by both Nash and Cordle, Lincolnshire eased to a six-wicket victory with Maslin completing a fine game by completing an unbeaten 62. 29 June 1974 had not been a great day at Swansea for Glamorgan but not half as bad as 2 September 1927 turned out, quite literally, to be for Nottinghamshire after the East Midlands side arrived at the St. Helen’s ground for their last match of the summer and on the cusp of winning the Championship title. In contrast, the Glamorgan players arrived at Swansea still seeking their first Championship win of the summer after 25 attempts. All that Nottinghamshire needed in order to clinch the county title was a draw against the Welsh county, and given their opponents’ woeful form, plans had already been set in motion for a civic reception in Nottingham to celebrate their title-winning season. All seemed to be going to plan as Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 233 after opting to bat first, before Eddie Bates and John Bell added 158 for the first wicket as the Glamorgan openers made an assertive reply. There were contributions as well from Arnold Dyson, Joe Hills and Dan Sullivan, as the home side amassed a first innings lead of 142 runs, but with only a day to go, and the wicket now appearing to be in a benign state, a draw still looked on the cards. Jack Mercer then made inroads with the new ball as Nottinghamshire slipped to 23-2 before the close of play, but given the decent form of their batsmen, Lionel Kirk, the visiting captain had few worries as he dined with Trevor Arnott, his opposite number, in a hotel after play in Swansea besides fleshing out his speech for the next day’s celebrations in Nottingham. But the final morning proved to be a disaster for the visitors as the maritime and overhead conditions were in the bowlers favour. Jack Mercer exploited them to near perfection as he deceived ‘Dodger’ Whysall with a clever change of pace, causing the batsman to spoon a ball into the grateful hands of the fielder at short-leg. Soon afterwards, he bowled Wilfred Payton with an off-cutter, before yorking William Flint and bowling Lionel Kirk as he completed an eight-over spell with figures of 4/23. At the other end, Ryan tricked and teased the visiting batsmen with his subtle spin, as seemingly every false stroke brought a wicket. The result was a steady procession of batsmen back to the Swansea pavilion, with each walking off in a state of disbelief, realising that their dream was turning