Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

130 A scorer’s lot Among friends. Jack with Johnnie Clay and Don Shepherd at the first-ever championship match played at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Glamorgan v Northamptonshire, in June 1967. All three took a thousand first-class wickets for the Welsh county. The signal-box at the Northampton county ground, pictured in 2010. No longer used for scoring, the upstairs part was the scorers’ box during Jack’s career. In all, he recorded almost 200 first-class and 90 limited-overs county matches from here between 1963 and 1981.