1968 saw Glamorgan, and their ground at St. Helen’s, enter the record books as, during a remarkable three and a half weeks in August, the Welsh county became the first ever to record consecutive victories over the Australians as they beat the tourists again at Swansea, whilst at the end of the month, their bowler Malcolm Nash, became the first county cricketer to be struck for six sixes in an over.
Both games were covered live by the TV cameras of BBC Wales, with the historic victory over the Australians being achieved under the captaincy of Don Shepherd who stepped in when Tony Lewis was taken ill before the game, with the subsequent events being a fitting tribute to Shep’s guile and experience. Click here to read more about the victory over the 1968 Australians.
At the end the month, it was another international cricketer who took centre-stage at the ground, as on August 31st, Garry Sobers produced an explosive salvo as Nottinghamshire were looking to declare on the opening day of their Championship match at St. Helen’s, and under the eye of a BBC camera crew who were using the match as part of their training. With the visitors moving towards their declaration, Tony Lewis brought on Nash at the Pavilion End. Nash had been experimenting with left-arm spin, and he could have been forgiven for switching back to his normal style as the first two balls disappeared high over the heads of the mid-wicket fielders and into the crowd sitting in the enclosures, before the third delivery – pushed a little wider on the off-side – was driven over long-off and into the seating in front of the historic Pavilion.
Nash then dropped the fourth ball a little bit shorter, but Sobers quickly rocked onto the backfoot, and pulled it square of the wicket for another six. The fifth ball was on a good length around off stump, and Sobers again played a lofted straight drive, but this time, he failed to fully connect as Roger Davis on the long-off boundary caught the ball, but in so doing, tumbled backwards over the ropes. Some people thought that Sobers was out, whilst others shouted six as the umpires consulted with the fielders. The MCC had brought in a new regulation regarding such situations at the start of the 1968 season, stating that a fielder had to remain within the playing area for a catch to be made, so after a quick chat, the umpires signalled six again.
As Nash regathered the ball, Eifion Jones, the Glamorgan wicket-keeper, jokingly said to Sobers: “Bet you can’t hit this one for six as well.” The West Indian simply turned around and grinned, took guard and ferociously despatched the ball like a rocket high over mid-wicket for his sixth six and a place in the cricket record books. By luck, his efforts had been captured by the BBC cameras but only after the producer, in consultation with commentator Wilf Wooller, had opted to continue filming after the scheduled transmission had ended rather than giving his staff a rest. A relay technician in the Vale of Glamorgan was also persuaded not to go on his scheduled break, and the upshot was five minutes or so of black and white film with an emotive commentary from the former Glamorgan captain who, on seeing Sobers’ final six, came out with the immortal line “and the ball has gone all the way down to Swansea!”
There could have been further rejoicing at Swansea, and Glamorgan’s other grounds during 1968, as the Welsh county made another sustained bid for the county title and successfully overcame the loss of left-arm paceman Jeff Jones. His premature retirement meant that Ossie Wheatley, who was developing his business career, appeared on a more regular basis but every cloud has a silver lining as Wheatley claimed 82 wickets and proved a trusty foil to Nash and Tony Cordle.
Majid Khan also enjoyed a fine start to his county career, amassing over 1,300 runs, with his outstanding ability to accumulate runs on wearing surfaces guiding Glamorgan to several victories. His magical touch was evident on a treacherous surface against Surrey at The Gnoll where he made 85 in a game where no other batsman passed fifty to steer his adopted county to a ten-wicket win. Later in the summer, Majid scored a graceful hundred at Taunton allowing Tony Lewis to set Somerset a final day target of 299. With Shepherd and Peter Walker in vintage form with the ball, the home side ended 53 runs short.
Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Eifion Jones also made headway as a batter and displayed his talents during a fractious contest against Sussex at Hove in early June. There was tension right from the outset as Tony Lewis complained about one of the boundaries only being 36 paces away from the square. The mood did not improve when one of the Sussex batsmen refused to walk after being caught from the bowling of Euros Lewis. Having been put in to bat, the visiting captain opted against setting the home side a target on the final day with the Jones brothers batting throughout the final day, adding 230 with Eifion, who had come in as a night-watchman, making an unbeaten 146 – the first century by a Glamorgan wicket-keeper since Tom Brierley had struck 101 against the same opponents in 1937.
Further evidence of Glamorgan’s fine team spirit came during July and August as they won ten of their thirteen games and rose up the table to finish in a highly creditable third behind Yorkshire and Kent. Their fine run began at Bramall Lane in Sheffield as Shepherd took 6/40 as Yorkshire failed to chase a target of 205 in 155 minutes. Geoff Cope responded with a twelve-wicket match haul in the return game at Sophia Gardens as Yorkshire won by ten wickets, but this was followed by successive victories over Northants, Warwickshire, Sussex and Somerset as for only the fifth time in the Club’s history that four consecutive Championship matches had been won.
The sequence began with a handsome nine-wicket victory over Somerset at Swansea where Nash took 7/15 as the visitors were skittled for 40 before Alan Jones completed victory with a handsome hundred. The left-handed opener then made another hundred as their winning run ended with an innings victory over Sussex at Ebbw Vale set up by a superb return of 9/60 by Ossie Wheatley in the visitors second innings.
Their quest for the Championship title fizzled out as the last three games were lost, including the historic match with Nottinghamshire at Swansea, but any disappointment that Tony Lewis and his team felt as the summer ended with an innings defeat against Kent at Folkestone was completely erased the following summer as 1969 became a season to saviour both for Glamorgan and the Welsh nation as a whole.