Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

118 His first appearances came in June 1942 when he played for the Army against Cambridge and Oxford University sides. The first was at Fenner’s and the latter at Lord’s – one of several old haunts that Jack was pleased to visit during the summer, including Hove and Headingley as he later appeared against Sussex and against a Northern England side raised by Sellers. In the match at Hove, he also got a chance to open the bowling with Alf Gover, before his good friend Maurice Tate came on as first change. He was pleased to see so many of his old colleagues and after his long hours of intelligence work and carefully translating messages, it must have been a sheer delight to see so many of his friends from the county circuit. Indeed, the post-match chats often went on so long into the night that Jack had to use all his diplomatic skills to explain to his military bosses his unexpectedly late return to base! These get-togethers of county professionals under the auspices of services organisations led to the players themselves organising further matches to raise cash for the war effort. Indeed, when asked by Tate if he would like to play the following month in a game at Bognor Regis for his side, Jack jumped at the chance and duly turned out on 22 July against an eleven led by Gover. In several matches, he played with or against some of his Glamorgan colleagues, including Vivian Jenkins, who was in an Anti- Aircraft Command XI facing an Army side at Chelmsford for a two-day encounter in July 1942. Besides re-appearing at county and Test venues, these games gave Jack a chance to play at a number of decent club grounds, including Aigburth, Aldershot and Epsom as well as at school grounds such as Tonbridge. The matches themselves were light-hearted and for a while, at least, allowed Jack to forget about the conflict in the company of many of his old pals, besides allowing him to give a few reminders of his talents with bat and ball, taking three for 8 in a fiery opening spell for a Coventry and District XI against a British Empire XI. 108 In mid-August he unfurled a beauty to bowl Frank Lee first ball in front of a crowd of 9,000 at Lord’s whilst playing for the Army against the Civil Defence Services, and then the following July when playing for the Army against Brian Sellers’ XI at Headingley, Jack hit a massive on-driven six to win the game for his side in the last five minutes as they successfully chased a target of 202 in a one-day contest. But it proved to be an all-too-brief return to sporting activity. His cricketing activities were abruptly curtailed in 1943 following his appointment as the commandant of a camp in Ulster dealing with Russian refugees and prisoners of war. For the final three years of the war, Jack put his excellent command of Russian to good use at the camp, to the south-west of Belfast, dealing with the refugees and other displaced Russian-speakers who were being held at the camps. His new role meant that he had less leave, whilst being across the Irish Sea meant it wasn’t For King and Country, again 108 One of the people who helped to organise the Empire side was ‘Bob’ Haines, another former Glamorgan colleague of Jack, who had played for the Welsh county in 12 matches in 1933 and 1934.