Lives in Cricket No 22 - Jack Mercer

89 Jack thus came to play the part of a trusted and loyal senior player, always there at time of trouble and prepared to roll up his sleeves, alongside Turnbull and Johnnie Clay, for the good of Glamorgan cricket. An example came in 1936 when financial worries loomed again. Once more, a combination of bad weather and poor results had seen gate receipts fall by £3,000, and a sizeable loss was looming when the committee met in mid-August. The mood did not lighten when Edgar Arnott, the treasurer, regretfully said, ‘I am of the opinion that perhaps it is time for the club to gracefully wind up as a first- class county and return to the Minor County ranks.’ Aghast at hearing these comments, Turnbull and Clay led another fund-raising campaign. But a further round of savings began soon afterwards, and Turnbull met with each of the professionals to tell them that their winter pay was being cut from £3 to £2 per week. There were dark mutterings from one or two professionals over the next few days, especially those who had gone along with Turnbull in the early 1930s questioning whether they could afford to stay with the club after their previous pay cuts. But Jack, typically, adopted a magnanimous approach, and in a show of great loyalty, he went back to Turnbull saying that he was quite happy for his wages to be cut if it meant that some of the junior professionals could stay on the staff rather than being jettisoned. Turnbull was overjoyed at hearing Jack’s offer, which he duly accepted before warmly thanking him for helping the club out at such a difficult time. Jack’s quiet words in the professionals’ room also persuaded several others to throw their lot in with Glamorgan, and after the promise of financial support from the manager of the Midland Bank, the club were able to arrange fixtures for the following season. Throughout his time as senior professional, Jack assumed his responsibilities without any adverse effect on his bowling. Indeed, in his first season in this position, Jack took 115 wickets and, in the match with Surrey at The Oval in July, he took the first (and only) hat-trick of his county career. It came late on the opening day of the contest, staged on an easy-paced wicket and after Surrey’s batsmen had amassed over 400 runs. As so often in the early 1930s, Jack and Emrys Davies bore the brunt of the bowling, with the pair sharing over a hundred overs while Surrey’s batsmen played with relative ease. However, to the last ball of Jack’s 34th over, Tom Barling was caught behind by Trevor Every as the Surrey man played a loose drive. Then with the first ball of his next over, Jack’s clever change of pace deceived Percy Fender into miscuing a drive straight back into his hands, before next ball he had an lbw appeal upheld against Senior professional Frank Ryan, whom Jack succeeded as Glamorgan’s senior professional.