Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

The early spells were steady, but the first five matches with his revived quicker style of bowling brought Allan only two wickets. Four cheap scalps at Derby, in Glamorgan’s only early season defeat, suggested better times ahead, but there were few remarkable spells and, when Glamorgan began their match with Warwickshire at Neath on 24 July, he had only 24 victims. In the weeks leading into this match the Welshmen had gone off the boil. Draws at Northampton and Hull were followed by a crushing 183-run defeat by Warwickshire at Edgbaston and another much narrower loss to Leicestershire at Cardiff. From these four matches Glamorgan had taken not a single point. Their early season bounce was becoming a distant memory, and they had seen Derbyshire succeed them at the top of the table. Their visit to Neath did not bring an immediate change to the Welsh county’s fortunes. For the sixth match in a row Wilf Wooller lost the toss, and his team were compelled to take the field. On an easy-paced pitch ‘play proceeded sedately for nearly an hour and then things began to happen.’ Allan came on at 27 for no wicket. Immediately he bowled Gardner. In his next over the New Zealander Donnelly fell, also bowled. After a brief Warwickshire recovery, Ord was bowled as soon as Allan returned to the attack and, when he also hit the stumps of Spooner and Grove, he had taken five wickets, all bowled, to record his best analysis to date: 16 – 6 – 19 – 5. All out for 122, Warwickshire faced steady batting from a rejuvenated Glamorgan side, who built a lead of 132 on first innings. There was no repeat of Allan’s magic when Warwickshire batted a second time, finally setting a fourth innings target of 104. This proved to be ‘a task they found none too easy on a wearing pitch against the guile of Hollies’ but, thanks to a resolute knock from Willie Jones, victory was secured by three wickets. Now Glamorgan were back on track in pursuit of the title. Eight thousand had packed into the Gnoll at Neath and, when Glamorgan moved along the coast to the St Helen’s ground at Swansea, more than 50,000 paid to see the Australians, a game that, for local supporters, had the flavour of their own ‘Test match’. Allan made 19 before falling to Lindwall, and he later won an lbw decision against opener Sidney Barnes before torrential rain ended the match on the second afternoon. Allan’s innings had contained two thunderous hooks to the boundary off Miller, but it was his friend Phil Clift whose cameo 30 took the eye of the Called Up For England 37