Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

55 the field, with Parsons winning another wager for his efforts in actually getting the ball into the tent! After the match, the MCC party were whisked off to Pinjore in the Maharaja’s fleet of Rolls-Royces for a big-game shoot around the Simla Hills. Jack was one of ten men to shoot a stag on the first morning, before everyone met up in a clearing in the jungle for a sumptuous seven-course lunch, followed by an afternoon of further shooting and sightseeing. Local journalists who were in the party reported that Maurice Tate had shot a sampur at a range of 9,000 yards. This was a claim which came as something of a surprise to Jack, who later recalled how he ‘happened to be sitting in a tree close by, and I should say that the distance was nearer nine yards than nine thousand!’ 61 After returning from their hunting expedition, the Maharaja treated the party to a lavish banquet at which all the animal skins from the shoot were formally handed over together with gold-plated cigarette cases, each decorated in blue enamel with the player’s initials. During the hunt, Jack had also shot a panther; its skin took pride of place as the visitors gathered up their new belongings and thanked the Maharaja for his kindness. The following day, the party began their long journey home, travelling initially for two days by train to Jamnagar where they were met by the legendary Ranjitsinhji, the great Sussex and England cricketer, who had been installed as Jam Sahib of Nawanagar in 1908. Their arrival at the local railway station was nothing short of a state visit, with players having garlands of flowers placed around their necks as they stepped off the train, before boarding a fleet of gold and silver carriages which took them to the Lal Palace where they rested for another week during which they took part in further shoots, days of sight-seeing and a spectacular farewell banquet which was accompanied by a display of fireworks. ‘I shall never forget the simply marvellous hospitality,’ Arthur Gilligan told a local journalist, ‘We were all treated like royalty, and I can never thank enough His Highness for bringing our Indian tour to an end in such a blaze of glory.’ 61 Western Mail , 5 April 1927 A passage to India