Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

53 theatre, with Jack revelling in the chance to further display his conjuring skills enjoying himself into the wee small hours. From Madras, the tourists then travelled by train to Dhanushkodi, the port at the western end of Adam’s Bridge before crossing to Ceylon on the S.S.Egmore , and then heading to Colombo. Their first contest on the Ceylonese leg of the tour was against a European XI and Jack made a sparkling start dismissing the first three batsmen, with the first two departing in his opening over. During their stay in Colombo, Jack and Ewart Astill were the guests of one of the opposition, a wealthy tea planter who was only too delighted to look after the MCC players. When their host duly came into bat, Jack inadvertently spilled a catch, but the local man saw the fumble as a great act of kindness and when they came to leave his home, the pair were delighted to find a present of ten pounds of tea in their kitbags! Jack sat out the next match against a Ceylonese XI, before returning to action at Darawella in the match against an Up-Country XI, staged on a picturesque ground surrounded by teabush-studded hills. Maurice Tate and George Geary took the bowling honours, allowing Jack to admire the beauty of the surroundings, and to save his energies for the unofficial Test which started a couple of days later in Colombo. It proved to be a wise move as together with Geary and Bob Wyatt, MCC forced the All-Ceylon side to follow on. In the sweltering heat Gilligan had been shrewd enough to rotate his seamers in short bursts and the wickets continued to tumble as the tourists ended their short stay in Colombo with an innings victory. The MCC party then travelled on the S.S.City of Simla back to Calcutta, where they spent the night at the Grand Hotel. Regarded as the finest hotel in the city, the tourists however had rather mixed experiences, with Peter Eckersley having his gold cufflinks and about 100 rupees stolen from his room, whilst Mervyn Hill and Maurice Tate each ripped open their pillows to remove a mass of spiky coconut fibre which had been used as stuffing. When the tourists prepared to leave, the rather officious hotel management then made a bit of a scene by impounding Mervyn and Maurice’s luggage until the local officials paid the bill for replacing their damaged pillowcases. The mood improved when the tourists arrived at Agra, their next destination, where they were given a tour of the Taj Mahal, before they were billeted with local businessmen. The following morning the tourists were up bright and early to catch the early morning train to Aligarh, a city some 50 miles to the north of Agra, for a two-day match on a rough matting wicket against past and present students of the city’s Muslim university. It proved to be something of a mismatch as Jack and Maurice Tate, bowling unchanged, dismissed the college side for just 86. The MCC batsmen then batted in carefree fashion with Jack coming out to bat wearing a fez cap – much to the delight of the hundreds of students who loudly cheered him as he walked to the wicket in his borrowed headgear. Jack’s borrowed headgear also won him a sizeable wager as during the tour the party had a light-hearted jape involving the most unusual millinery they could find. In Madras, Bob Wyatt had ridden around the boundary’s edge on a motorcycle whilst A passage to India