Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

That winter, when the Usk Cricket Club held their dinner at The Three Salmons Hotel, Allan’s family were there to see the club celebrate his fine season with the presentation of an inscribed clock. His county skipper addressed the diners, passing on the verdict of the South African tourists’ manager that he had never seen a better close fielder on the leg side than Allan and adding prophetically, ‘I have no doubt that one day he will play for England.’ With 1,407 runs at an average of 33.50 and 27 catches Allan had become a key member of the Glamorgan side, and the award of his county cap set the seal on a fine season. But Allan was not yet the all-rounder he was to become. Throughout the summer he had bowled not a single over, despite playing in a side in which most players turned an arm in an attack which, though strengthened by the arrival of Len Muncer, was now deprived of Austin Matthews, Peter Judge and, except for a few matches, Johnnie Clay. As the cricket season closed, Allan determined that he was not returning to Plymouth, where he had become so disenchanted with the weakness of the Argyle manager and where, despite the generosity of Ed Stere, the cost of running a second home had left him out of pocket. He had hoped that he might take up rugby once more but, to his intense disappointment, he soon found that this was impossible: “As a professional cricketer I could play amateur rugby, but as a professional soccer player I couldn’t. So I couldn’t play any rugby.” So rigid was the bar to any participation that Allan’s brother Selwyn, also an all-round sportsman, recalls being rejected when he went over to the rugby ground to give the Usk juniors some help with their place kicking. “I went over there, telling them to use the in-step rather than the toe, and all of a sudden I was told, ‘You can’t do this – you’re a professional.’” Rejected by rugby, Allan took a winter at leisure before deciding, shortly before the end of the season, to give soccer another go. He and Molly were still living in Usk, where they had rooms first above the Bridge Inn across the river from the town centre, later taking a flat above a bank overlooking Twyn Square. This time Allan vowed to make sure that he would find a club closer to home. He recalls the chance to join Cardiff City, like Argyle in the then Second Division, whose chairman happened to be H.H. (soon to be Sir Herbert) Merrett, whom he knew as president of Glamorgan. Merrett was also chairman of Powell Duffryn, to whose offices Allan was summoned. “I went down to Tiger Bay, as it was called A Foothold in County Cricket 33