Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

80 Wartime and after By this time, cricket had returned to St. Helen’s. First there was a time-limit match between a Glamorgan XI and the Swansea Central League, although few of the regular faces appeared in the county side. Bill Andrews of Somerset played, while Closs Jones made 35 and took 3/9, with Johnnie Clay also claiming 4/8. A one-day match followed in August against a National Fire Service XI. Willie Jones and local sportsman Harold Peters shared stand of 105 as Glamorgan declared at 203-7. Jones and Clay had another decent workout with the ball but the Fire Service held out for a draw, ending on 130-6. With county games also taking place at Pontypridd, Barry and Newport, there had been discussions about another match at Swansea against the West of England, but the rough state of the outfield ruled this out, with the contest in mid-September being held instead at the Briton Ferry Steelworks club. Their efforts were reward the following summer with a one-day game in mid-June against Western Command, with Glamorgan securing a handsome 203-run victory after dismissing Western Command for just 68. With the remedial work having been completed on the turf at St. Helen’s, two further matches were staged at Swansea. The first took place on 21 July with a one-day contest against a Royal New Zealand Services XI who had secured a series of friendlies for their cricketing stars before heading home. It was captained by the Kiwi Test wicketkeeper Ken James, and included past and future internationals, including Stewie Dempster and Martin Donnelly. The match at Swansea was ruined by rain, with Glamorgan making 133-4 in what little play was The young Gilbert Parkhouse being coached on the rugby ground at St. Helen’s by Billy Bancroft during the 1930s.