Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

32 Chapter Four Early years with Glamorgan In 1922, Glamorgan won only one of their 22 Championship matches and lost eighteen; they conceded runs at 28.02 per wicket and scored them at only 13.30. Thus in 1923, the summer when Jack completed his two-year period of qualification with the Welsh county, 31 things could only get better. Success on the field was imperative as the Club were unlikely to survive if they had another poor season. As Tom Morgan, the captain of Cardiff C.C. and the county’s opening batsman, said in a newspaper interview, ‘this year is exceedingly vital … for if we fail now the consequences may be serious since we may never reach the same pinnacle of first-class status again.’ 32 For 1923 Jack, now thirty, was attached to Cardiff C.C. with the Glamorgan officials believing his undoubted talents would be best suited to an association with the region’s premier club side and at the Arms Park ground where Fred Bowley was setting up the county’s ‘academy’. It was a good move as the Cardiff club had a string of fixtures against some of the best teams on Severnside; regular net sessions against Cardiff’s extensive pool of amateur batsmen, as well as the youngsters under Bowley’s eagle eye, all allowed Jack to hone his skills further. The weather in early May was poor, and when the club season began, the first round of fixtures was washed out, and it was not until mid-May that Jack had his first bowl of the summer, against Swansea at the Arms Park. It proved to be a game where he got plenty of bowling as Swansea batted on until 5.30 pm before declaring on 218 for seven. Not surprisingly, with just two hours remaining, the match ended in a draw. As the season unfolded, Jack showed some excellent form for Cardiff, and he clearly benefited from Bowley’s tutelage and the regular practice at the Arms Park. His first big haul of wickets came in a one-day friendly against Glamorgan’s Club and Ground side during the Whitsun holiday, when he took seven for 49 for the city club against his county colleagues. The following day he guested for Barry 33 in their friendly against the same opponents, before travelling overnight by train to Llandudno where a trial 31 Jack’s hopes were briefly raised in 1923 that he might be able to start the season with his adopted county, when the MCC’s Advisory Committee discussed the possibility of reducing the qualifying period from two years to one. When they met in April 1923, the voting was ten to nine in favour of retaining the two-year period, so he had to wait until August before making his Glamorgan debut. 32 Western Mail , 21 April 1923. 33 The National Archives show that in April 1923 Jack applied for his Great War campaign medals from an address in Barry; probably a house in the port came with the professional’s post.