Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

overnight score of 489 for seven. With Glamorgan employing seven different bowlers, Allan was used sparingly, returning figures of 6 – 1 – 38 – 0. There was little play for George Lavis to watch on the Monday as the Glamorgan openers reached 14 without loss in the only overs the weather permitted. Next day Notts maintained their supremacy on a pitch now freshened by rain and giving the fast bowlers lift and bounce. After the first wicket fell at 34, Bill Voce and Harold Butler made light work of the middle order. At 112 for eight it was Allan’s turn to bat. With only six more added he was joined by Jack Mercer. “Jack didn’t like batting anyway. He was a number 11 bowler, and he came up to me and said, ‘You stay that end and I’ll stay this end.’ Now it was Bill Voce on at the top end. He bowled me a bouncer, and Joe Hardstaff, a wonderful man, he said, ‘What do you think you’re bloody well doing? That boy weighs about eight stone, he’s 17 years of age and you’re bouncing that bloody ball at him.’ I can always remember Joe doing that. I was only a youngster and he was a Test player, but we were friends after that.” The Glamorgan innings ended on 130 when Mercer fell to Butler, leaving Allan not out. He had scored 14 of the last 18, the Western Mail reporting that he ‘showed the right temperament and some of his shots were real gems.’ Forced to follow on, Glamorgan fared a little better, playing out time to reach 157 for four, with Allan not required to bat. From Nottingham the Glamorgan side travelled to Ilford to play Essex. In a match whose shape was dictated by the weather, Allan played no part with bat or ball as declarations enabled Glamorgan to win by five wickets. The team moved on to Hove and a Glamorgan defeat by an innings and 79 runs. For Allan there were 11 unproductive overs in Sussex’s innings, sandwiched between two failures with the bat as he was bowled in both innings by Jack Nye for scores of 3 and 4. Seeing one of his bails flying a measured 33 yards served to remind the young Watkins that he was now playing a man’s game. With Peter Judge’s registration formalised and Austin Matthews also able to play from late July, there was little further need of Allan’s services, though he took part in a heavy defeat against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and on 2 August he was chosen to make his home début against Yorkshire at the Arms Park in Early Days at Usk 16