Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

91 Championship tricks and a victory over the Boks “For me it is the ideal place to watch cricket, sitting between the pagodas at the top of the imposing pavilion, with one eye on the Bay and the other on the beautiful green oval below. The trains travelling to and fro into Swansea (Victoria) on the old L.M.S. line, and the electric trams chugging away with their loads of holiday makers to Mumbles, interrupt the gentle lapping of the waves. The wicket, too, gets better year by year and from the most senior County member down to the youngest ‘boy’ guzzlng’ his bottle of ‘pop’ at the boundary’s edge, there is shown a wonderful sense of loyalty towards the County.” 6 It was therefore with a great sense of Celtic pride that Wooller and his team played at Swansea in the coming years as many visiting teams strove to make amends for the county title having left England. But as Wooller was quite prepared to tell anyone eyeball to eyeball, Glamorgan’s success in 1948 was not down to luck, and with some alert fielding and accurate bowling, especially on leg stump, the Welsh county had deservedly lifted the Championship title. They also had some bright young talent, with Allan Watkins, becoming the first Glamorgan cricketer to score a Test Match century during the tour of South Africa in 1948/49, whilst Gilbert Parkhouse, was called up by the England selectors in 1950. After their success in 1948, Wooller’s team ended in eighth place in 1949, and then eleventh spot in 1950 before bouncing back up into fifth place in 1951 – a summer which also saw them record one of the most remarkable victories in their history at Swansea as they became the only county side to defeat the 1951 South Africans, yet even the most partisan of Welshmen would have been hard pressed to forecast a Glamorgan win when Wooller’s side were dismissed for a modest 111 after being put in on a rain-affected wicket. The day had also begun poorly for Jim Pleass, a rookie professional from Cardiff during the Championship-winning season in 1948, but three year later now an established member of the Glamorgan line-up. As the batsman later recalled: “Huge traffic jams on the A48 to Swansea delayed my journey from Cardiff, and I arrived at the St Helen’s ground just ten minutes before the scheduled start to find that Glamorgan had won the toss, and I was batting at number three. Really, I didn’t have time to get my breath. Thirteen runs on the board, and our first wicket went down. The massive crowd did not bother me, but the swing bowlers did, and I soon edged a slip catch to Van Ryneveld, having scored just a single.” 7 Things improved for Jim and the rest of the Glamorgan side during the afternoon session, as once again Muncer exploited the St. Helen’s wicket, taking 5/99 in a fine spell of off-spin, leaving the Springboks teetering at 34-7 at tea. After the interval Athol Rowan and Percy Mansell counter- attacked the bowling, adding 52 in even time for the eighth wicket, before the tourists were also dismissed for 111 to leave honours all square on first innings. The following day was a Sunday and whilst the tourists spent time on