Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

84 When Glamorgan batted, the Australian bowlers soon got amongst the wickets and after further interruptions for rain, the tourists went for quick runs to set their hosts a target of 218 in the remaining 165 minutes. Few people gave the Welsh side much of a chance after so many abject batting performances but, to the delight of their supporters, Turnbull, and Bates shared a vibrant stand of 93 in just over an hour as word spread like wildfire around Swansea that Glamorgan might be about to beat Australia. After completing a scintillating fifty, Turnbull was bowled by Clarrie Grimmett, but the run-chase continued as Johnnie Clay was promoted up the order and responded by smiting the spinner for a massive straight six. Bates also struck Grimmett for two fours in an over, but overambition proved to be his downfall as the Australian lured him down the wicket and had him stumped. With twenty minutes remaining, and thirty runs required Jack was sent in to see if he could engineer a famous victory, but after a couple of lusty swipes he became another victim for Grimmett. Dai and Emrys Davies still remained, but the furious tempo slowed as the seamers duly returned and the pair safely batted out the last few overs before the umpires called time with honours even. After the thrills and excitement of the tourist match, and in front of the bumper crowd, Glamorgan were brought down to earth with a bump at Clifton College against Gloucestershire, when Wally Hammond produced a superb spell of bowling taking eight for 25 as the visitors followed on and lost inside two days. Another heavy defeat followed against Somerset at Weston-super-Mare, before the Glamorgan bowlers were treated with complete disdain by Yorkshire’s opening batsmen at Bramall Lane in Sheffield with Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe each scoring hundreds. In their second innings, Glamorgan’s adopted Yorkshiremen – Eddie Bates and Arnold Dyson – responded by sharing an opening stand of 233 to save the game and to spare the further blushes of Turnbull’s team. Glamorgan returned to winning ways at Derby as Turnbull struck a typically elegant century before Jack and Frank Ryan destroyed the Derbyshire batting as they attempted to make 237 on the final day. After Jack had taken an early wicket, Ryan claimed the next five, before Jack switched to off-cutters, and with the fourth and fifth balls of his slower style removed Archie Slater and Alf Pope in successive balls. With last man Tommy Mitchell at the wicket, Turnbull summoned all of his men into close-catching positions to see if Jack could complete a hat-trick, but the Derbyshire man squirted the ball through the slips for a single, before be- ing caught by Emrys Davies off the next delivery from Ryan as Glamorgan secured a comprehensive victory. A fortnight later at Swansea, Jack was involved in a hat-trick himself, as the match against Gloucestershire saw Tom Goddard take five wickets in the space of seven balls, with Jack being the second man to depart in the hat-trick. Second time around, it was the spin of Charlie Parker that undid the home side as Gloucestershire ended their 1930 campaign with I wish we had more like him