Saturday 20 June 2020

Cricketers of the past - Glamorgan 1969

Posted by Tony Hutton

Glamorgan won the County Championship for the first time way back in 1948 under the captaincy of the redoubtable Wilfred Wooller. Twenty one years later they won it again under the captaincy of Tony Lewis. This time they came from behind with a late burst of three victories which brought them home in fine style in a season when they only used thirteen players in championship games. They were the eleven in the photograph plus D.W. Lewis and Ossie Wheatley, the former captain, who had almost retired from the game. Glamorgan remained unbeaten throughout the season, although they had a close call in the very first match with Yorkshire, when the last pair batted out for a draw.


On the left hand end of the back row is wicket keeper Eifion Jones, younger brother of batsman Alan Jones. After a long apprenticeship as deputy for D.L. Evans, Jones became  a regular in the late 1960s and remained until 1982. He made his highest score of 146 not out in 1968 sharing in a partnership of 230 with his brother. He holds the record number of dismissals for Glamorgan with 933 and played a major part in the 1969 end of season run in, winning the game against Middlesex with two sixes in the penultimate over and then running out the final batsman in the last match to decide the championship.

Bryan Davies was a West Indian from Trinidad who played in four Test Matches against Australia in 1964-65 before joining Glamorgan for two seasons in 1969. He scored over 1,000 runs in both seasons.
Next in line is left arm bowler Malcolm Nash, who will always be remembered as the bowler who was hit for six sixes in an over by Garry Sobers in 1968. However in a long county career from 1966 to 1983 he was a consistent wicket taker and ended with 993 first class wickets as well as being a useful tail end batsman.

Next we have Lawrence Williams a right arm opening bowler and left hand bat who played from 1969 to 1977. His best first class performance was 7-60 and he was perhaps better known for his consistent performances in Sunday League cricket. Roger Davis was a right hand bat and off break bowler who specialised as a short leg fielder, holding 33 catches during the championship season. He was involved in one of Sobers' six sixes when he caught the ball but fell back over the boundary. In 1971 he suffered a severe head injury when fielding close in and was lucky to survive when his heart stopped beating.

At the right hand end of the back row we have the majestic Majid Jahangir Khan, famous Test batsman from Pakistan. He came to England to study and play for Cambridge University and came to Glamorgan due to his father's friendship with Wilf Wooller at Cambridge before the war. He played for the county from 1968 to 1976 and was captain for his last four seasons.

At the left of the front row is Tony Cordle from Barbados. A fine all rounder he gave excellent service to the county from 1963 to 1980 before becoming the county coach from 1980-1983, then emigrating to Canada. He was a lively quick bowler with best figures of 9-49 against Leicester in 1969.

Peter Walker, who sadly died in April of this year, was a splendid all round cricketer and outstanding close fielder. Born in Bristol but brought up in South Africa he gave sterling service both as a player and later, after a career in broadcasting, as Cricket Development manager for Wales. He did the double in 1961 and played in three Test in 1960, scoring over 17,000 runs and taking over 800 wickets, as well as almost 700 catches for Glamorgan.

Tony Lewis was a double blue at Cambridge at both cricket and rugby union. A consistently high scoring batsman, he first played for Glamorgan as a 17 year old in 1955 and rose to become county captain from 1967-1972. He also captained England on their tour to India in 1972-73. He later found fame as a journalist and broadcaster, before becoming MCC President from 1990-2000. 

The last two players both had remarkable careers in county cricket. Don Shepherd, who bowled medium pace off cutters, took more wickets than anyone else who did not play Test cricket and Alan Jones scored more runs than anyone else who did not play in Tests. Controversy surrounded Alan Jones one appearance for England against the Rest of the World XI in 1970, which was not regarded as an official Test. Only this week after fifty years was he eventually awarded an England cap.

Left hander Alan Jones scored 36,000 runs for Glamorgan, including 56 centuries in a career which stretched from 1957-1983. Don Shepherd played from 1950-1972 taking 2,218 wickets. In 1956 he took 177 wickets, something unimaginable in today's curtailed programme.  He was a Wisden player of the year in 1970 and probably got most satisfaction from beating Australia twice, taken nine wickets in 1964 and captaining Glamorgan to victory in 1968.





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