The nerve-jangling win against Essex at Swansea had put Glamorgan in a virtually unassailable position with two games to go, and another mammoth crowd, as well as the BBC crew, were present at Sophia Gardens the following morning for the start of the match against Worcestershire. They duly witnessed the innings of the summer as Majid defied the opposition bowlers and the capricious nature of the pitch. He had arrived in the middle after Roger Davis had been struck a painful blow on the elbow from Holder and was forced to retire hurt. But Majid remained unruffled and made an imperious 156 out of Glamorgan’s total of 265.
The Welsh county duly secured a first innings lead of 82 before Tony Lewis told his batsmen to go for quick runs. Peter Walker made an assertive 63 and Eifion Jones a breezy 39 before being hit on the head and felled by Holder. He was carried in a dazed state to the changing rooms where the medics advised rest, but the loyal keeper was not going to miss out on the kill as he sat, still feeling giddy, on the pavilion balcony with Majid taking over behind the stumps as Tony Lewis challenged Worcestershire to score 255 on the unpredictable surface. Nash and Cordle made early inroads before Don Shepherd steadily worked his way through the visitors middle and lower order, starting with the wicket of Jim Yardley – his 2,000th victim in first-class cricket. However, it was his 2,003rd which made him proudest as Brian Brain was caught at slip off his box and body by Bryan Davis as Glamorgan won by 147 runs to become the County Champions of 1969.
Click here to read more about the victory over Worcestershire.
The team then gathered on the balcony of the pavilion to share in the crowd’s celebrations before toasting their success long into the night in the small bar of what at the time was the home of the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club. Welsh melodies rang out across a now deserted outfield at Sophia Gardens, augmented by some lilting Caribbean calypso’s from Tony Cordle and Bryan Davis.
In many ways, it was fortunate that there was a week’s break before the final Championship match of the summer at The Oval plus the closing Sunday League contest against Sussex at Hove. The players were determined to visit London and the south-east in some style as County Champions, and having accumulated several cases of champagne, there were extra responsibilities for twelfth man Kevin Lyons as he oversaw, with his friend Roger Davis, the loading of the kit plus the cases of champagne into the luggage van on their express train from Cardiff General to London Paddington and then onwards by taxi to the team’s hotel and subsequently the ground at The Oval.
All went well at first, in addition to the flying visit to Hove for the Sunday match. The Glamorgan players enjoyed their socialising after play in London, not that there was much play as rain curtailed events at The Oval and hastened a soggy end to the summer. As the game petered out into a draw, Kevin dutifully ordered the taxi’s back to London Paddington mindful that his colleagues were looking forward to finishing off the final cases of champagne on their journey home. As Kevin still remembers:
“The taxi’s reached Paddington two or three minutes before our train was due to depart. In the rush, I got all of our bags off the cars, counted them, made sure they were all there, tipped the drivers, got hold of a porter and got all the kit on the train. But as the train pulled off I said to Roger, ‘I haven’t put the champagne on!’ And he said ‘Who’s going to tell him?’ Him being Don, our senior pro. And then he came down the corridor of the train a couple of minutes later and asked where the bottles were. I said “Err, I’ve got some bad news for you senior. I left them in the back of the taxi!” His face just dropped, just as it did when he was told he was coming off as a bowler.” Shep’s verbal response is unprintable, but replacement supplies of beer were duly sought from the buffet car and, by the time Tony and his merry team had reached Welsh soil, they were starting to see the funny side of their twelfth man’s travails!