Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

108 overtaking, well before the season’s end, the previous high of 137 wickets set by Jack in 1929. The match with Worcestershire at Swansea in late June saw an outstanding performance from the spinner as the 39-year- old threatened to emulate Jack’s feat at New Road by taking nine for 66 in the first innings, followed by eight for 146 in the second to finish with a club record analysis of 17 for 212, and all on a shirt-front wicket. His masterclass in the art of off-spin came during a purple spell in mid- summer during which he also took nine for 59 against Essex at Westcliff. Their bewildered batsmen must have been downright sick of the sight of Clay as the following week he took another 13 wickets against them at Llanelli as Glamorgan recorded another emphatic victory to keep them in the top six of the table. The club’s resurgence in form gave Jack and the other senior players a huge fillip, but just when things appeared to be going smoothly Jack broke down in early July against Lancashire. For several weeks, the lower part of his left leg had been causing him discomfort, but in the match at Blackpool, the pain became so severe when he put his foot down that he could bear it no longer, and after bowling nine overs, he left the field. His calf muscle had stiffened up completely by the time he returned home and hobbled in to see the club’s doctors. ‘Damaged tendons’ was the diagnosis, necessitating his absence from the Glamorgan side for over a fortnight. In his absence, George Lavis was pressed into service as an opening bowler, but he lacked the skill and guile of Jack, leaving the buoyant Glamorgan side bereft of an experienced medium-pacer. Jack briefly, and perhaps too hastily, returned to the side against Essex at Llanelli, but his leg was still not right and his place in the line-up for the next match was taken by Austin Matthews, the former Northamptonshire bowler. Matthews was an old friend of Turnbull’s, with the pair having played cricket and rugby together back in the mid-1920s. Matthews had been approached by Glamorgan about joining their staff, but he turned down the offer, and moved instead to the East Midlands, to play rugby for Northampton. After some outstanding performances in club cricket, Matthews made his first-class debut for Northamptonshire in 1927 and for the next ten years the right-arm fast-medium bowler regularly opened their bowling. At the end of 1936, Matthews left Northamptonshire after a dispute over the terms of a new contract, and accepted instead a coaching appointment at Stowe School. At the end of the summer term, he returned to see his family in South Wales with few thoughts about playing any more county cricket. Quite remarkably, by mid-August he had been called up by the English selectors for the Third Test against the New Zealanders. This remarkable chain of events began in early July when Matthews met up with Turnbull and, after hearing of Jack’s ailments, Matthews agreed to help for the next few weeks. After MCC authorised his signing, Matthews made his Glamorgan debut on 28 July, against Gloucestershire at Newport; he soon made an impact, taking two wickets for just ten runs in a fiery opening burst. His pace and movement also caused problems for the New Zealanders as they subsided to a massive 332-run defeat when the Renaissance man