Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

70 Chapter Eleven A change of captain Glamorgan had suffered a dreadful season in 1928, finishing fifteenth in the Championship table and winning just two of their 26 Championship matches. At the end of the summer, Trevor Arnott was relieved of the captaincy. The club faced financial worries as well, with the committee having to consider cash-saving measures as the financial situation deteriorated. In mid-July they announced that coach Fred Bowley, plus Dan Sullivan and Frank Ryan would not be offered new contracts – decisions that many disagreed with, and which got a few tongues wagging about discord behind the scenes and unrest in the professionals’ changing-room. Indeed, with the jovial Jack missing from the side on several occasions, the mood in the professional ranks was not as good-humoured as usual. Ryan, in particular, suffered a loss of form and his relationship with Arnott went from bad to worse. As Glamorgan stumbled from defeat to defeat, the captain found it increasingly difficult to handle the maverick and short-tempered spinner and by mid-July, with Jack not around to arbitrate or offer wise counsel, things came to a head with Ryan being omitted from the side. The club initially announced that Ryan was being rested because of a loss of confidence, but eyebrows were raised when he took ten wickets in Wales’ victory against the West Indians at Llandudno and, not surprisingly, there were stern calls for Ryan to be recalled to the side immediately and to patch up his differences with Arnott. He duly returned to the Glamorgan line-up, with the committee agreeing to reconsider their decision about not offering him a contract. At the end of the season, a revised offer was made to Ryan, as well as to Bowley, but it became clear that, under Arnott, Glamorgan had not been a happy team. A change of captain was needed, and after several months of discussion, Norman Riches and Johnnie Clay agreed to share the duties. Both had the confidence and respect of the professionals, but not having just one regular captain was far from ideal; on several occasions, neither Clay nor Riches was available and during 1929 seven other players led the team. This lack of a regular leader unsettled the side, and ‘Nomad’ wrote that ‘Glamorgan have seldom played as a team in the real sense. They have merely been a collection of individuals bereft of the essential team spirit.’ 73 Thus 1929 proved to be another poor summer for the Glamorgan side, as 73 Western Mail , 24 August 1929.