Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

38 straightforward task for the visitors. Harry Makepeace and Ernest Tyldesley duly gave the northern side a solid start and on 84 for three they appeared tohave themeasure of the Glamorgan attack, especially as Frank Ryan had appeared quite innocuous in his first spell. But it was at this point that captain Johnnie Clay, who had great faith in the erratic and wayward genius, sauntered over to his spinner and said: ‘Right, Frank. It’s now or never – I know you can do it!’ Ryan responded with one of the finest -ever spells of his career, taking seven for 23 as Lancashire fell 39 runs short of their target. As Jack Morgan subsequently wrote: ‘the Lancashire batsmen must have thought they were in the coils of a serpent. Bringing the ball down from his fine height, Ryan spun it like a top on the dusty surface, and batsman after batsman groped and lunged in vain as the ball spun wickedly past their bats.’ 39 There was a happy outcome both for Glamorgan and also for Ryan who, during the match at Swansea, was approached by various officials from Lancashire League teams who hoped to entice the mercurial spinner ‘up north’. The press soon became aware of these approaches with Ryan, fully aware of how his stock had risen, having a quiet word with Harry Ditton and the other local journalists, aware that any speculation about his future would help him negotiate superior terms for 1925. His ploy worked as the Glamorgan officials swiftly made an improved offer, allowing Ryan, the clever rascal, to tell the press that ‘it would be an act of rank ingratitude on my part if I considered for a moment the possibilities of severing my connection with Glamorgan. The Glamorgan club have treated me well and it is my intention to remain loyal … so long as the pleasant relationship between them and myself continues to exist.’ 40 Despite being the club’s third-highest wicket-taker, Jack was fully aware that it had not been as fruitful a season as either he or the Glamorgan hierarchy would have wished. There was no denying his potential with either bat or ball as Johnnie Clay outlined in a series of player-by-player profiles in the Western Mail newspaper the following April, with the club’s captain writing how Jack was ‘a cheerful type of batsman of the hard, high and often school. Has the ability to become a really first-class bowler. Plays a good hand at poker, so they tell me.’ 41 It is quite illuminating that Clay began by describing Jack’s batting, as on the evidence of the previous season, Jack’s bowling had not progressed as swiftly as many had hoped. Helm Spencer had enjoyed much success in 1924, whilst Fred Bowley had high hopes of Emrys Davies’ ability with the ball, and it was quietly being An approach from the north The newly capped Mercer, J., now 31, at Worcester early in the 1924 season 39 J.H.Morgan, Glamorgan County Cricket , Convoy Publications, 1952. 40 Western Mail , 20 August 1924. 41 Western Mail , 18 April 1925.