Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

111 more surprising was the worried look on the faces of some of the old Glamorgan players, especially Emrys.’ Wooller realised that he had been ‘looking forward to a sizeable share of the takings from the three days play, but now he was perplexed by our good start and did not know whether to laugh or cry at the prospect of the game being over early!’ 103 To Emrys’ relief, Yorkshire recovered, with Frank Smailes and Morris Leyland each striking centuries, as Yorkshire recovered to 343. The game duly went into the final afternoon, but whilst it ensured a decent return for Davies, it did not help Glamorgan as Hedley Verity took seven for 63 to steer Yorkshire to a 130-run victory. Wooller was also in the Glamorgan side when they took on the touring Australians in early August. Another enormous crowd turned up at Swansea: to many, this was an international match, Wales v Australia, and an ‘extra’ Test in the summer’s itinerary. By the start of play, there were barely any spare seats at the St Helen’s ground – even when Turnbull went out to for the toss with Don Bradman, the pair were mobbed by hundreds of spectators. Glamorgan batted first, but after only an hour, heavy rain fell and play was abandoned for the day. The prospect of seeing Bradman bat on the second day attracted another enormous turnout, with around 25,000 people inside the ground, all keen to watch the Australian maestro bat, but Glamorgan continued batting for another hour and three quarters until a thunderstorm broke over Swansea Bay and stopped play. Renaissance man 103 Andrew Hignell, The Skipper: A Biography of Wilf Wooller , Limlow Books, 1995. From the balcony. Jack and four of his Glamorgan colleagues (l to r: Willie Jones, Aubrey Davies, Haydn Davies and Closs Jones) enjoy watching the Glamorgan fightback in their match against Lancashire at Old Trafford in June 1938. The Welsh county followed on 401 runs behind, but Emrys Davies and Tom Brierley posted centuries to avoid an innings defeat.