June 1, 2 v Surrey 2nd XI at The Oval – Lost by 4 wickets
June 3, 4 v Durham at Sunderland – Match Drawn
July 6, 7 v Northamptonshire at St. Helen’s, Swansea – Match Drawn
July 8, 9 v Durham at St. Helen’s, Swansea – Match Drawn
July 10, 11 v Essex 2nd XI at St. Helen’s, Swansea – Match Drawn
July 13, 14 v Wiltshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Won by 2 wickets
July 22, 23 v Monmouthshire at Cardiff Arms Park – Match Drawn
July 31, Aug 1 v Monmouthshire at Rodney Parade, Newport – Match Drawn
Aug 3, 4 v Surrey 2nd XI at Cardiff Arms Park – Won by 81 runs
Aug 17, 18 v Wiltshire at Trowbridge – Match Cancelled (War)
Aug 19, 20 v Essex 2nd XI at Leyton – Match Cancelled (War)
With the Club’s deficit reduced to £42, Glamorgan were able to hire the services of more professionals for the 1914. Bill Bestwick, the former Derbyshire fast-medium bowler and Eddie Bates, a stocky batter who had played for Yorkshire, were each recruited, having moved to South Wales following lucrative offers from local clubs.
The fixture list for 1914 also included a cricket week at St. Helen’s, with matches against Northamptonshire, Durham and Essex 2nd XI as the county’s officials looked to emulate the likes of Cheltenham and Scarborough by having a lucrative Festival of county cricket in Swansea.
As the bank balance continued to improve, some of the Club’s officials started to think about resurrecting the campaign for County Championship status. But events at both the local and international stage changed everything, starting on Saturday, June 27th with confirmation that Jack Brain, the man who had master minded Glamorgan’s rise from a lowly third-class county into an outfit with first-class aspirations, had died following a heart attack. The following day, June 28th, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo with events on the European stage escalating and World War One being declared on August 3rd, leading to the cancellation of the last two matches of the summer.
The last match of the curtailed season had seen Glamorgan, under the leadership of Norman Riches beat Surrey 2nd XI. The Glamorgan captain made 116* before setting the visitors a target of 184 to win. However, there were concerns amongst the visiting team over both how, and when, they might travel back to Paddington as the Great Western Railway had announced it was cancelling several planned excursion trains, and with troop movement now a necessity, a revised timetable was drawn up. It may have been no coincidence that Harry Creber swiftly worked his way through the Surrey line-up as Glamorgan secured a facile victory by 81 runs with the visiting players and officials hurriedly leaving the Arms Park and heading off to catch the next available service back to London.
It must have seemed that the fates had conspired once again to thwart the Welsh county’s aspirations, just when the Club were getting back on their feet and clearing their debts. The Club’s amateurs duly signed up and went off to do their duty, for King and Country, ruminating no doubt on what Glamorgan might have been achieved during the past few years and believing that the long-held goal of first-class status might never be secured.