By Mike Latham
My two sporting passions have always
been Rugby League and Cricket and I greatly admire players who excel at both
sports.
But occasionally one comes across a
player who excelled at both.
Bill Merritt was such a player- an
outstanding all-round sportsman who initially took the cricketing route but
also the opportunity to play professional Rugby League.
As a youngster in Christchurch, New
Zealand Bill was outstanding at athletics, soccer, rugby and cricket but chose
the latter game as his specialism. He made his first-class debut for Canterbury
as a teenager against Otago in February 1927, taking eight wickets in a winning
start and putting his name in the frame for the Kiwis’ tour of the British
Isles that began three months later.
The 1927 New Zealanders, Bill Merritt third from left, back row
A leg-spin bowler and hard-hitting
middle order batsman, Bill blossomed on that tour and was the leading
wicket-taker, 108 at the impressive average of 23 apiece in 25 games, also
contributing over 500 runs with the bat, average mid-twenties. New Zealand had
not then been accorded Test status, finally achieved three years later, but
this tour was an important staging point in their development as a cricketing
nation.
Back home Merritt further developed
his reputation as one of the leading all-rounders in the domestic Plunket
Shield and was an automatic selection for New Zealand’s first Test match,
against England at his native Christchurch in January 1930.
Bill Merritt the Test cricketer
In 1931 he was an integral member of the Kiwi side that played a three-match Test series for the first time in this country. He was again a leading performer in the tour games, taking most wickets, 99 at 26, scoring over 500 runs.
His obvious liking for English
conditions made him a target for the big-spending Lancashire League clubs and he
signed a two-year contract with Rishton, an ambitious village club near
Blackburn, whose list of later pros included Viv Richards and Allan Donald.
This was one of the golden eras of
the Lancashire League, huge crowds turning out on Saturday summer afternoons to
watch their local sides, often boosted by a big name ‘pro’ then including some
of the current and future greats of the cricketing world.
Rishton CC
Merritt was clearly hot property-
England Test players James Langridge, Maurice Tate and Harold Larwood had all
been mentioned as potential Rishton pros before his appointment. Larwood, then rated
as the world’s fastest bowler, had reportedly been offered an open cheque but
declined.
Merritt’s aggressive batsmanship and
artful, challenging bowling soon won over sceptical locals. He engaged with his
team-mates, organised practice sessions, introduced fielding drills for the
first time. In a league with more than its fair share of compelling cricketing
personalities, led by the magnetic appeal of West Indian Learie (later Sir
Learie) Constantine, he thrived.
In his first season at Rishton he
took 102 wickets, the second highest tally in the league, scored 600 runs and
spearheaded his side’s path to the prestigious Worsley Cup Final, taking seven
wickets and chiselling out 36 invaluable runs in a low-scoring victory over
Haslingden. ‘I played only a one-eleventh part in the game,’ he told the
Lancashire Evening Post. ‘The boys have supported me well.’
His next season was even more
successful, finishing as the league’s leading wicket-taker, 132 at an average
just over 12, scoring an unbeaten 149 against Lowerhouse, his first league
hundred.
Rishton’s league rivals East
Lancashire came in for his signature, secured after careful thought, his stay
at the beautiful Alexandra Meadows in Blackburn then extending to five seasons.
As a highly paid and valued league pro Merritt became based all year round in Lancashire
and looked around to fulfil his all-round sporting abilities.
In June 1933 it was revealed that he
was to have trials with Wigan and he played in an A team game against St Helens
Recs alongside his long-term friend and former All Black Gordon Innes, recently
arrived from New Zealand. Innes and Merritt went back a long way, playing
together in Canterbury rugby union circles and when Innes married in Wigan in
1934 there was only one choice for his best man.
Merritt played again for the A team,
then was selected for Wigan’s first team, making his debut against Broughton
Rangers at Belle Vue, alongside Innes in a centre-wing partnership. The Wigan
side that day included the great Jim Sullivan and Australians Joe Wilson and
Hector Gee, but they went down to defeat, 7-6 in front of 6,000 spectators.
Gordon Innes
After three games, Wigan revealed
that Merritt had turned down terms and he was released. Innes, though, stayed
on, forging a notable career, playing 155 games for Wigan, scoring 60 tries and
kicking four goals before leaving for home in late 1938 after a short stint at
Castleford.
Advert for London Highfield v Australians 1933
He moved on to the ambitious London
Highfield club, playing their first season at the White City, debut in their
prestigious midweek tour game against the Kangaroos – the latter’s first time under
floodlights. The Australians won 20-5 before a crowd of 14,500 but Merritt more
than held his own.
Merritt politely declined Highfield’s
offer of an extended deal and instead signed for Halifax, quickly settling in,
scoring a debut try, grabbing a brace in a 19-5 home win over Featherstone
Rovers, a hat-trick in a 35-7 win over Bramley just before Christmas, another
try in victory over Hull Kingston Rovers early in the new year.
Halifax 1933-34, Merritt front row far right
Injuries cut short his season, but he
was fit to take up the lucrative contract at East Lancashire, helping his new
club reach third place in the Lancashire League, again the league’s highest
wicket-taker (114 at a shade under 13) in 1934, but eclipsed by Constantine in
the Worsley Cup Final. Constantine took six wickets, then scored an unbeaten 47
in Nelson’s eight wicket win.
Lancashire Evening Post cartoon 1934
As soon as the cricket season was
over Merritt was back at Thrum Hall, for a Yorkshire Cup-tie victory over
Dewsbury. He played ten games, without scoring, the last a 6-34 defeat at Wigan
on 26 Jan 1935, Alf Ellaby, forming a devastating centre-wing partnership with
Innes, scoring a hat-trick. It was Bill’s last appearance on a rugby field.
East Lancashire CC
In Merritt’s final year at Alexandra
Meadows in 1938 East Lancs agonisingly failed to achieve his goal of a
championship win, after a dramatic four-way tie for top spot, decided by a
play-off and beaten by George Headley’s Haslingden in the semi-final. Headley
was among a glittering cast of some of the world’s top players who Merritt
competed against during his seven years in the Lancashire League, Test players Ted
McDonald, Alan Fairfax and Arthur Richardson (Australia), Edwin St Hill, Manny
Martindale, Constantine and Headley (West Indies), Sydney Barnes, Nobby Clark,
Fred Root, Dick Tyldesley (England) and Amar Singh (India).
Merritt married a Birmingham girl and
relocated to the Midlands, playing for Northants against Don Bradman’s touring
Australians in 1938, then a full county season in 1939 after fulfilling his
qualification period. He did well in a struggling side, ever-present, scoring
875 runs at 23, leading wicket-taker with 72 at 30. With war intervening, he
initially took a club pro job at Dudley and played occasional friendly games
for Northants and other representative sides before army service overseas, mostly
in the Mediterranean. He joined the army as a private and ended the war as a
Major. He returned to Northants in 1946, taking 61 wickets, second in the list
to Nobby Clark, whom he had played against in the Lancashire League.
Merritt played on at Dudley,
eventually stepping down as pro and becoming captain, engaging the great George
Headley, his opponent in that championship semi-final back in 1938 as the paid
man. Dudley won the Birmingham League in 1952, both Test match players key men
over the season. The Dudley link was important to the Headley family; his son
Ron was a long-standing opening batsman for Worcestershire, Ron’s son Dean,
born in Worcestershire playing Test cricket for England. Merritt returned to
New Zealand, took up tennis, reaching A grade standard, also excelling at golf.
He died at 68 in 1977.
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