Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

unless the ball is right underneath you. Anything on the middle and leg or leg stick, you sweep it. The other thing he did was change my grip so I could stretch another foot and a half forward. That’s all I learnt and I stuck to that throughout my life.” When Allan’s home début finally came, the second innings of a drawn match against Northants brought him the first of his 833 first-class wickets, when he bowled Jack Timms. In the same match he hit an undefeated 23, his highest score of a modest first season, which brought 57 runs at an average of 19 and a single wicket at a cost of 187. There were a couple of Second Eleven friendlies, with useful knocks for Allan, but serious cricket was over for six long years. Had it not been so, a permanent spot in the Glamorgan side might not have been long in coming. Bill Hitch spoke of his progress to the local press: “I have seldom had a youngster more eager to learn. Watkins will do everything he is told, and he is quick to remedy little faults. That is one of the reasons why he should get on. His display against Notts was particularly encouraging.” Allan himself was so young. He had no idea what war might mean for the shape of his life. “I was too young to be called up even, just seventeen and a half,” he recalls. “Of course, I hoped I’d be able to play again eventually, but none of us knew what was going to happen.” 18 Early Days at Usk