Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

109 Glamorgan bowlers swept through their batting once again, with Matthews taking four wickets in their first innings, before Clay and Emrys Davies took five apiece in their second innings. Matthews continued his purple patch in the next Championship match against Sussex at Hastings as he took seven wickets in each innings. His career-best return of 14 for 132, on a perfect batting strip, set many tongues wagging, and not just in the Glamorgan camp. England selector Percy Perrin had travelled to the south coast, ostensibly to watch Emrys Davies, who was enjoying a fine summer with both bat and ball. Although Emrys struck a sound hundred, it was Matthews’ bowling that caught Perrin’s eye. Matthews duly followed up with a further six wickets against Somerset at Weston-super-Mare, and on 9 August – just thirteen days after his Glamorgan debut – the England selectors drafted him into their squad for the Third Test, in place of Freddie Brown. 101 Matthews’ dramatic return to the first-class game also meant that Jack now had a decent new-ball partner and would not have to shoulder the brunt of the attack. Before the season was over, Matthews told Turnbull that he would accept an offer to play again in 1938 once he had completed his duties at Stowe. Whilst this was good news for Jack, not everyone was happy with the situation, especially George Lavis. He had been a bit miffed the previous winter to have his winter wages cut, and there had also been a drop in his summer pay. He had hoped to supplement his pay with some coaching, but the arrival of Matthews dashed these plans and with the former Northamptonshire man likely to assist Bill Hitch, Lavis left South Wales and took up an appointment with the Forfarshire club in Scotland. There were, as well, financial issues to be faced at the end of the summer, because the upswing in gate receipts was largely offset by increased costs in staging Second Eleven games. Despite the county’s on-field success, membership had dropped and the committee spent several weeks during the winter thinking how to balance the books. One alternative would be to release some of the older professionals. Though Dai Davies and Jack were gradually coming towards the end of their distinguished careers, Turnbull was reluctant to lose their experience and to take the field in 1938 with a clutch of inexperienced players. Like the bulk of the committee, he realised that the retirement of senior players had to be carefully phased, allowing new talent to be gradually introduced. The nub of the argument was that having a second team in the Minor Counties Championship was an expensive, but important, business. Dropping out of that competition was one way of saving money, but there were likely to be long-term costs if novices were thrown into the deep end. As befitted a shrewd businessman, Trevil Morgan came up with a solution – hiring out the young professionals to the clubs in the South Wales Cricket Association. The income generated would defray the cost of Renaissance man 101 The selectors were looking ahead to the visit of the Australians in 1938 and, with Bill Bowes and Ken Farnes both injured, Matthews got his chance at The Oval.