Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

6 The modern game is very different from the inter-war years when Jack Mercer secured 1,400 wickets for Glamorgan. Those were the days of two three-day Championship matches a week, no limited-overs or Twenty20 matches, and long journeys by train, often at night, rather than travelling by team coach or sponsored car. Nevertheless, the core skills back then are still the same as today, with the primary objective of dismissing a batsman. I’ve concentrated on off-spin throughout my career, and like Shep before me, I’ve thrived on long spells. I’m amazed to read in this account of Jack Mercer’s career to discover that he would frequently begin a match with a decent spell of swing bowling before switching to off-cutters. My body is tired and aching after taking 1,000 wickets just bowling spin, never mind anything else. I can only imagine how Jack must have felt after his sterling efforts, never mind Shep’s after taking 2,174 wickets for Glamorgan. Ten days after taking my 1,000th wicket for Glamorgan, I took my first-ever hat-trick for the club in the County Championship. At 40 I was the oldest player to achieve the feat – a year older than Jack who took his hat-trick for the Club in 1932. Remarkably, he continued playing for the Club for another seven seasons. He must have been one hell of a bloke! Cardiff, Glamorgan July 2011