Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

73 by the time Ryan was dismissed, Glamorgan had extended their lead to 203, with Morgan unbeaten on 91. The dramatic shift continued as Emrys Davies and Jack reduced Sussex to 80 for nine, with both bowlers extracting lift and movement from the surface. For once, Jack decided not to bowl cutters as the overs ticked by; rather than standing closer and closer to the stumps, young wicketkeeper Trevor Every was forced further and further back as Jack gained pace and bounce from what had seemed an anodyne surface. Tommy Cook and ‘Tich’ Cornford tried to stage a late counter-attack as the Glamorgan bowlers tired. But shortly after the last-wicket pair had completed a fifty stand, spinner Eddie Bates was recalled and trapped Cornford leg-before as Glamorgan completed a historic victory by 56 runs with a delighted Guy Morgan, and a weary Jack, invited by captain Trevor Arnott to lead the victorious Glamorgan side off the field. A few weeks later, another remarkable batting performance occurred at Swansea, with Johnnie Clay and Joe Hills sharing an unbroken stand of 203 for the ninth wicket against Worcestershire – a partnership which still remains as the club’s best for that wicket in first-class cricket. But this record stand, and the fightback at Horsham, were brief rays of sunshine during what overall proved to be a distinctly gloomy season. More often than not, the batsmen struggled, giving Jack the opportunity to bowl only once in a match. Had his colleagues shown more resolve with the bat, one can only wonder at how many more wickets Jack might have picked up in 1929. But as the summer unfolded it became clear that it wasn’t just poor batting that was handicapping Glamorgan, as the experiment of sharing the captaincy duties proved to be a complete failure. Things reached a nadir in early July when neither Clay nor Riches were available for the visit to Trent Bridge, and the club’s selectors invited Niel Morgan, the captain of Cardiff C.C. and a member of the family who owned the city’s famous department store, to take time off from his thriving business in the Welsh city to lead the county side in the match with Nottinghamshire, the Championship winners that year. It was an astonishing decision as the allrounder had only played for Glamorgan twice before, and both times against student opposition – against Oxford University in 1928 and against Cambridge University at the start of the 1929 season. Despite having never played Championship cricket, Morgan duly led out the side at Trent Bridge and took the new ball with Jack. However, Morgan’s debut lasted only thirty minutes as, after bowling half a dozen overs, he pulled a hamstring and limped off the field, leaving Eddie Bates in charge with Jack as his deputy. His departure also meant that Glamorgan were down to just one seamer, and a host of spin bowlers; despite Jack’s noble efforts, Nottinghamshire made 512 for six. The lack of seam-bowling options was then put into perspective as Harold Larwood scythed through the dispirited Glamorgan batting, with the England paceman returning match figures of eleven for 73 as Nottinghamshire A change of captain