Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

101 Ten wickets and a benefit The Glamorgan side which lost to Kent at the Arms Park in May 1936. Left to right: C.C.Smart, R.G.Duckfield, D.E.Davies, J.C.Clay, M.J.L.Turnbull (capt), E.R.K.Glover, J.Mercer, D.Davies, A.H.Dyson, D.A.Davies, T.L.Brierley (wk). Among the trialists who appeared in the Arms Park nets was Gordon Mercer, Jack’s younger brother, a tearaway fast bowler. Like the rest of the menfolk in the Mercer clan, he had received some basic instruction from his father before playing for Sussex junior sides. With Glamorgan actively looking for new bowling talent, Jack persuaded Gordon to have a trial with Glamorgan and after impressing Bill Hitch, Gordon spent the opening months of the season with the county’s squad. Jack took great delight in introducing his younger brother to the rest of his colleagues, although with Gordon being 22 years younger, several of the Glamorgan professionals actually thought that he was Jack’s son! 93 The 1935 season was also a breakthrough season for Emrys Davies, the Carmarthenshire-born allrounder who had first played for the county back in 1924. Eleven years later, and after nearly having his contract terminated several times, he completed the seasonal double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets to become the first Glamorgan player to achieve this feat. Davies reached the landmark at Worcester on the final afternoon of the season and with some help from his collegues. Rain had fallen overnight, and with Davies on 99 wickets, he was champing at the bit to get into action. Worcestershire’s Frank Warne also needed 42 runs to reach a thousand for the first time in his career so after lunch Maurice Turnbull and Bernard Quaife, the Worcestershire captain, told the umpires that they wanted to stay at the ground rather than head home, even though there was no chance of a positive outcome in the contest. 93 Gordon’s time however with Glamorgan was altogether quite brief as he quickly realised that he did not have the skill to make the grade as a professional cricketer and he returned to Sussex. He continued to play with success in club cricket, sometimes against his other brother Donald, who was a member of the Portslade club.