Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

47 day Jack heard that he had been chosen to appear for the Players against the Gentlemen in the traditional match at the Scarborough Festival. With the good news being carried in the local newspapers the next day, Jack duly received plenty of congratulations, as together with many of their supporters, the Glamorgan team travelled on a Campbell’s steamer across to Weston-super-Mare for the match with Somerset. It was a long day in the field, but it also proved to be a red-letter day when during the afternoon Jack dismissed John Daniell to claim his hundredth victim of the summer. The weather ruined the contest, however, with rain washing out the final day’s play and allowing almost all of the Glamorgan party to head north by train soon after lunch for the match the next day against Lancashire at Blackpool. The exception was Johnnie Clay who, instead, headed back home to Chepstow to take part, along with many other leading members of South Walian society, in the celebrations accompanying the opening of the town’s new racecourse, and to watch the races on the Saturday afternoon in the grounds of his family’s former home. 49 Given his love of the turf, Jack would have dearly loved to have enjoyed a day at the races himself, but his services were needed at Stanley Park. However, despite another five-wicket haul, he could not magic up another victory, as the Glamorgan batsmen struggled against the Lancashire attack and went down to an eight-wicket defeat. The next home match, against Gloucestershire at Swansea, was a curious affair, not least because 27 wickets tumbled for just 281 runs on the opening day, after heavy rain had fallen overnight. It was quite steamy when the toss was made, but the visiting captain – with half an eye on the Swansea wicket’s reputation for crumbling – opted to bat first, hoping that Charlie Parker, the much-vaunted Gloucestershire spinner, would prosper as the sandy surface deteriorated. The decision backfired as the visitors were hustled out in the space of two hours as Jack took, what at the time, were his career-best figures of eight for 39. During the opening session, he extracted pace and movement from the surface, clean bowling his first six victims, before trapping Reg Sinfield leg before and causing Percy Mills to play onto his stumps. The rout began in Jack’s first over as Douglas Robinson, the visiting captain, was bowled by the third ball of the contest. But it was in his thirteenth over when Jack was at his most deadly, claiming three wickets in the space of five balls as Ken Hunt and Bernie Bloodworth departed in successive balls, before twice beating the outside edge of Parker’s bat and then ripping out his off stump with the next ball. But, as so often during the 1920s, Jack’s fine bowling did not set up a Glamorgan victory. The wiles of Parker reduced the Welsh county to 54 for seven as they chased a target of 103. Jack then joined Trevor Arnott and added 36 in even time to raise hopes of a home victory, before Arnott Turning the corner 49 Chepstow Racecourse had been laid out in the grounds of the Piercefield Park, and it was hoped the new racecourse would become Wales’ version of Royal Ascot.