Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

67 most impressed by the depth of talent and enthusiasm for the game, and in the course of the next few years, he acted as a great ambassador for the island, helping to develop cricket on the island by arranging a series of tours by sides containing a number of county players. These tours encountered some formidable batting talent, and when planning the visit to Jamaica in 1928/29, Tennyson realised the need for stronger bowling resources, especially professionals. Fortunately, he secured the support of Julien Cahn, the well-known businessman and philanthropist from Nottingham who was looking for new avenues for his patronage of the game he had fallen in love with whilst growing up in Nottingham. Cahn took great delight in being in the company of leading cricketers, and the chance of visiting the West Indies with his own eleven greatly appealed. Another carrot was that the matches on the Jamaica tour would be regarded as first-class and by playing in these matches, he would be able to realise, at the age of 46, his ambition of playing at that level of the game. 71 Few questioned his intentions when he financed so many improvements at Trent Bridge and elsewhere, and the England players and county professionals who accompanied him to Jamaica appear to have enjoyed his company, not least because the tour was a lucrative source of income during the winter months and allowed them to enjoy outdoor practice prior to the season. As far as Jackwas concerned, Cahn also shared two of his other passions – magic and horses. Indeed, Cahn was a talented illusionist and served as president of the Leicester Magic Circle. He also loved hunting and was master of various hunts in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. No doubt, there were many occasions when the pair discussed the relative merits of various horses or shared a trick or two after play, much to the delight of the other members of the touring party and their guests. 72 Cahn’s financial support meant that Lord Tennyson could lead a much stronger party to Jamaica. Jack was one of ten professionals in the party who met up at Avonmouth in February 1929 to sail directly to Kingston on the S.S.Comito . As far as the rest of the party were concerned, Cahn arranged for Lord Tennyson, the other five amateurs plus himself and his wife to travel on R.M.S.Mauretania from Southampton to New York. Their vessel was far more luxurious than that used by the professionals, but it proved to be a far more eventful journey as Lord Tennyson ran up a sizeable debt and was very grateful for Cahn’s assistance in settling his A tour to Jamaica 71 Cahn eventually played in six first-class matches, all for teams he had raised himself. Three were overseas in Jamaica and Argentina, and three at his private ground at West Bridgford. In these games he scored 70 runs at an average of 10.00. It is said he was helped by the reluctance of umpires to give him out lbw and their failure to signal leg-byes off his pads. His two first-class wickets came at 74.50. 72 Their acquaintance also proved to be of benefit to Glamorgan later in the 1930s when Jack, together with Maurice Turnbull, persuaded Sir Julien to stage a series of fund-raising exhibition matches, starting at Cardiff Arms Park in 1936, followed by a two-day contest in 1937 at Sir Julien’s private ground in Nottingham and then in 1938 a game at Rodney Parade in Newport.