Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

would have to wait three years before playing his next Test on home soil. In what was to become a summer of disappointment, he missed selection for the Gentlemen and Players match at Lord’s and, despite four championship centuries, he batted inconsistently with lean periods bereft of runs, though his bowling brought some compensation with 66 first-class wickets. Meanwhile, Glamorgan slipped to eighth place in the table, the warm dry weather bringing the 1948 champions twice as many drawn games. After MCC had sent parties overseas for three consecutive winters, no tour was scheduled for 1949/50; so Allan reported for duty with Cardiff City, as he had expected to do twelve months earlier. His selection for South Africa had brought only good wishes from his new club. When he had spoken to H.H.Merrett, any concerns about a clash of commitments were swept aside. “He said, ‘No choice at all – South Africa for you! I’m thrilled because I’m chairman of Cardiff City and I’ve got one of my boys playing for England.’” When Allan returned he had found an unexpected and welcome surprise at the football club: “Every week HH had paid my wages into the safe. I thought it was wonderful.” Now it was time for Allan to repay his employer’s generosity, and he had plenty to offer. “Allan was a good footballer,” says brother Selwyn, who won countless cups as a teenager with Usk before going on to a professional career with Bath City, Bristol City and other clubs. “Perhaps a bit slow, but very good at reading the game. He has a very acute brain when it comes to sport.” Keeping his weight in check was always a problem for Allan, especially in the summer months, so there was work to do in the sweat baths when he reported for duty with Cardiff City. Then he captained a side in the Welsh Cup at Merthyr Tydfil. “The ground was pretty rough there. I tossed up and went back to left half, where I was playing. Their inside right doubled back and I went to double back with him, caught my foot in one of these tufts of ruddy grass and my cartilage went. So I was on the field about twenty seconds, I think, before I was carried off.” This was Allan’s second cartilage to go, rugby having claimed the first. An operation for the removal of the cartilage was successfully carried out, but Allan was told that his career as a footballer was at an end. He would never step onto the field for a full Cardiff City side. Back on the County Circuit 55