Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

“I never got that £100,” Allan says without rancour. At least he had received his basic salary: “Thirty shillings a week!” Still awaiting call-up, Allan was able to enjoy some cricket for Usk during the summer of 1940, a highlight of his season coming in the match against Ross, when he hit 38 off an eight-ball over. When his papers finally arrived, Allan chose to join the Royal Navy. Basic training took him to Malvern and after four or five weeks, to his surprise, he was retained as an assistant instructor. “Why they should pick on me of all the people in my group, I don’t know. I helped the PO on the square bashing and all that.” Missing a gunnery course on which he should have been sent, Stoker Watkins was posted to Devonport. “There were about 60 of us and the CO came and said, ‘Right, that half that way, and that half that way.’ The half I was in went down to Granby Barracks, and that’s where I stayed for the whole of the war.” The arbitrary split of the group meant that Allan was dealt a lucky hand. He admits to having had an easy war, consigned to fire-fighting duties around Devonport. Though Plymouth was mercilessly attacked by German bombers, the civilian fire brigade had responsibility for the safety of the city. Allan, meanwhile, was among those charged with looking after the docks, where he reckons only about three bombs fell. So he had time on his hands and plenty of opportunity for sport. Running sport in the forces, Allan soon discovered, was a much sought after job. “A lot of people used to come into the forces, ‘Oh, I played for Aston Villa, I played for Chelsea.’ They were all looking for one of these jobs.” The sport at the barracks, when Allan arrived, was looked after by a former headmaster, now a Petty Officer, assisted by a senior stoker, Ivor Givlin, a talented footballer from Swansea. “Between them these two ran the sport. I went down and they said, ‘What was your job?’ I said, ‘Cricketer.’ The PO said, ‘That’s a funny thing to put down as a job.’ So he sent for Givlin. ‘Never heard of the bloody fellow!’” Arriving in the winter, with his name ringing no bells, Allan had been regarded as a sporting nonentity, but once spring arrived and the talk turned to cricket, he put his name down to play. The hopefuls assembled at the nets and Allan started bowling spinners on the concrete pitch until it was Givlin’s turn to bat. “I thought I’ll teach him a bloody lesson. So I bounced it. It went about two feet above his head. The PO was stood there, ‘What the hell’s going on?’ An Easy War For Stoker Watkins 20