Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

82 Chapter Thirteen I wish we had more like him ‘I wish we had more like him,’ were the words of Johnnie Clay when asked by a newspaper reporter in 1930 to sum up Jack’s virtues. 82 It was a most apt description of Jack’s lion-hearted efforts, whilst it also encapsulated the situation where for much of his career, he was bereft of a regular and specialist new-ball partner. Where other counties had opening bowlers who hunted in pairs, Jack was frequently left on his own. Helm Spencer had been Jack’s new-ball partner in the mid-1920s, followed by Trevor Arnott from 1926, but after Arnott went into self-imposed retirement, a variety of gentle trundlers opened the bowling with Jack. Between 1930 and 1932 George Lavis and Dai Davies each took the new ball at various times with Jack, although on many occasions Turnbull decided to go for the jugular and open up with his best two bowlers as left-arm spinner Frank Ryan or off-spinner Johnnie Clay operated at the other end from Jack. In 1932 Ted Glover made a decent debut for the Welsh county, confirming promise as a fast bowler first shown at Sherborne School, and from 1933, the tall, rugby-playing amateur operated with the new ball with Jack. For a while, it also looked as if another tall, raw-boned youngster might develop into a potential partner, as Harry Dickinson, a fast bowler from Barry, made a decent impression in Club and Ground matches. But Harry’s family were keen for him to complete his studies as a draughtsman with the Great Western Railway, and it was not until 1934 that Jack had Dickinson’s pace as a foil for his guile and subtle variations. But their partnership was all too brief, as the club could not offer lucrative terms for Dickinson to turn professional, and he duly opted to join the railway company instead. For much of his career under Turnbull’s leadership, Jack was thus an ever- cheerful one-man band. Despite the limited support and lack of firepower at the other end, he still took over a hundred wickets in both 1930 and 1932, and would have done likewise had he not been injured in 1931. On many occasions through the 1930s, he delivered long spells. Against Worcestershire at the Arms Park in July 1930 he bowled unchanged throughout the match, fully exploiting the damp conditions on the second morning when he took six for 22 with his off-cutters, operating with a ring of four close catchers on the leg side. The following day, it was his swing bowling which hounded the Worcester batsmen when he took four of the first five wickets to fall as the visitors collapsed for a second time with 82 Western Mail , 23 April 1930.