Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

86 Despite his leg strain, Jack was still able to unleash some whirlwind displays of hitting, as in the match at Swansea when he plundered the Warwickshire bowling for 59 in the space of just 25 minutes. His innings came late on the rain-affected first day and when he arrived at the crease Glamorgan were 123 for eight and facing another modest total. Jack opened up with a six straight over the sightscreen before being dropped in successive balls at long off and long on as he tried for further sixes. He continued to plunder boundaries and on 47, had another life as Freddie Santall tumbled over the boundary rope at deep extra cover trying to complete a catch. Norman Kilner eventually caught Jack, who returned up the St Helen’s steps having struck four sixes and five fours, to a standing ovation from the watching spectators. He nearly repeated his feats in the second innings, striking four fours and a six in another swashbuckling cameo, but as so often in his career, it was in a losing cause. Indeed, the match was symptomatic of Glamorgan’s batting woes that summer with Jack, at number ten, the only home batsman to score fifty in the match. Most of the batsmen were out of form, including Turnbull himself whose tally was 400 fewer than in the previous year. Joe Hills had been handicapped by an elbow injury, sustained the previous winter playing in goal for Cardiff City, whilst Eddie Bates, at the age of 47, increasingly found three-day cricket a tiring business. Indeed, during August, the Glamorgan side faced some lengthy train journeys, heading from Cowbridge to Scarborough before heading south to Leicester and then to Cheltenham where they were able to relax at the famous Festival. But no sooner had they started to enjoy the splendid hospitality at the College ground, the Glamorgan squad had to pack their bags again and head back north to Chesterfield for the match with Derbyshire. After a fortnight of constant playing and travelling, the Glamorgan team were very tired. Not surprisingly, they were dismissed in each innings for just 86 and despite a five-wicket haul from Jack, they went down to a heavy defeat. Then they heading home to South Wales and some well deserved rest before the final home games of the summer against Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. It proved to be a grim end to the season as confirmation came through about the deterioration of the club’s finances through a combination of the downswing in the economy, a fall in gate receipts and the loss of thirteen days play because of rain. Even before their travels around the country, newspapers in South Wales had been carrying doom-laden stories about the club’s parlous state. Soon afterwards, rumours began about massive cuts to the playing staff. Jack’s position was safe as his contract did not expire until the end of the following year, but Bates, Bell and Ryan were not so fortunate as their contracts ended in 1931. For several weeks they anxiously awaited details of contract extensions, but shortly after arriving at Cheltenham, they each received letters from Arthur Gibson, the Glamorgan secretary, saying that with economy measures being needed, none of the three would be offered terms for 1932. I wish we had more like him