Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

30 evolving skills as a bowler can also be gauged from ‘Nomad’s’ comments: Mercer did much to justify the hope that he will ultimately develop into a first-class trundler. He has a nice, easy action whilst he varies his pace very cleverly. Occasionally, he sends down quite a fast ball, making it swerve both ways, whilst he frequently bowls an effective in-swinger. The delivery with which he bowled Hubert Ashton, the brilliant Cambridge captain, was a real snorter. 27 A crowd of over 6,000 turned up at the Arms Park for the second day, Bank Holiday Monday, as Glamorgan continued their first innings, with Jack having a chance to display his talents as a batsman. ‘Mercer batted with any amount of confidence and gave the impression that he is a fearless hitter when set,’ was ‘Nomad’s’ verdict, before Jack soon made early inroads into the Varsity line-up when the visitors’ batted again. He claimed four cheap wickets before Frank Ryan filleted the middle and lower order as the Welsh county secured something of a facile win. In the cut and thrust of Championship cricket, they were still found wanting more often than not, and things went from bad to worse as Briton Ferry Town C.C. refused to release their professionals to Glamorgan for the match at Hove, preferring that their men appeared in the club’s match against Cardiff. 28 Several talented amateurs also regularly refused invitations to turn out for the county causing ‘Nomad’ to bemoan: ‘Why is it, I wonder, that certain amateurs are not coming out so frequently this season? No names, no pack drill, but I am in a position to state that certain amateurs have been invited to play in practically every match, but it does seem that many of them are not unduly anxious to help the county out of the rut it finds itself in.’ 29 In fact, things became so bad that for the last home match of the season, against Leicestershire at the Arms Park, the county’s selectors were forced to select two players who had impressed in the trial matches in August – James Sharples and Roy Gabe-Jones, a fifteen-year-old batsman from Blundell’s School. Neither played county cricket again. 30 At the end of August, Jack was also chosen in the South Wales side which played North Wales at the Arms Park in a fixture jointly organised by the County Club and the newly formed Welsh Cricket Union, who had aspirations of annual home internationals against Scotland and Ireland. Jack had a five-over spell with the new ball, but the modest talents of the North Walians meant he played a supporting role as Frank Ryan achieved a match haul of twelve for 43. Jack’s final match of the 1922 season saw him briefly cross the path of Maurice Turnbull, who subsequently played a major role in Jack’s emergence as a high-quality county bowler. Their meeting, in September, A move to South Wales 27 Western Mail , 7 August 1922. 28 Western Mail , 17 June 1922. 29 Western Mail , 7 June 1922. 30 Gabe-Jones has remained the only fifteen-year-old to play for any county in the ‘official’ Championship. Sharples was nearly thirty and had previously played club cricket in Lancashire and Kent.