20 May 1921 has gone down in the Club’s annals as one of the greatest dates in their history as Glamorgan won their inaugural County Championship match, defeating Sussex by 23 runs, with the visitors fielding a side which included England bowler Maurice Tate and Test all-rounder Vallance Jupp, plus the talented Gilligan brothers – Arthur and Alfred. Despite these big guns, it was Norman Riches, the Cardiff-born dentist and batting star from the Minor County days, who was able to toast the crowd – estimated at 8,000 – and make an impromptu victory speech from the balcony of the Arms Park pavilion as the delighted spectators gathered below still barely believing what they had witnessed for the past few hours.
It was also nearly a fairytale start for Scottish born batsman Jock Tait, with the insurance broker having ended the second day’s play unbeaten on 96 after a forthright innings during which he played some cavalier strokes, besides riding his luck as three catches were spilled by the Sussex fielders, some of whom may have still been feeling the after-effects having attended a lavish smoking concert and dinner the previous evening in The Grand Hotel. But there were plenty of clear heads the following morning as the Glamorgan batsman was bowled by his namesake, Maurice Tate, in the day’s opening over. Jock returned to the pavilion somewhat crestfallen and told his colleagues “the ball looked as big as a football last night; this morning it seemed as small as a pea!”
The euphoria from the victory over Sussex was short-lived as only one Championship match was won. The Club’s flimsy finances meant they could only afford only three or four professionals at any one time – at a rate of £10 for a home game, and £14 for an away match. By the end of the summer, the Club’s deficit had risen to £447, despite takings in excess of £700 at the Sussex match and Glamorgan’s Treasurer must have been mightily pleased that before the start of the season, the officials from the Cardiff and Swansea clubs, perhaps having had their heads turned by the prospect of hosting regular first-class cricket, had agreed to cover the costs of catering and their groundsmen’s fees
Glamorgan’s finances had also been hit by the bad weather which prematurely ended the potentially lucrative match at Swansea against the Australian tourists. The visit of Warwick Armstrong and his team had been expected to draw a massive crowd to the St. Helen’s ground and Harry Creber, the county’s veteran spinner who also acted as groundsman-cum-professional for the Swansea club was given explicit instructions by the Glamorgan hierarchy to prepare a wicket that would which ensure the match went into a third day. Knowing that his future employment with the Welsh county would be at risk if he didn’t follow these instructions, he duly prepared a shirt-front wicket only for the final day of the contest to be washed out, with the umpires abandoning play shortly before noon.
Many of the ways in which the Club operated were still like the Minor County days. Less than a month before the inaugural Championship game, the committee was still discussing which professionals should be hired, and were only starting to search for new talent. A belated request went out to club’s and two days before the Sussex match, a Colts game was held at the Arms Park, giving the Glamorgan officials
A chance as well as to test the facilities which had been installed for the inaugural game. Perhaps in the hope of some spiritual assistance, a young curate from the cricket team associated with St. Andrew’s Church in Cardiff was included in one of the teams – he made just three and of the twenty-two Colts who appeared in the game, only one went on to appear in first-class cricket.
Other county teams had a small nucleus of players and a fairly settled team – not Glamorgan, though as many of the amateurs were unavailable to play on a regular basis,. There had been hopes that Billy Spiller, a prolific run-scorer in Minor County and League cricket, and a former Welsh rugby international – would be able to frequently appear, but the labour unrest in May meant that the policeman had to withdraw from the inaugural Championship side. He more than made up for missing out by later in July becoming the Club’s first-ever Championship centurion, scoring 104 at Northampton. In the following match at Swansea, two schoolmasters, Frank Pinch and George Cording each made hundreds, with the former’s coming on his first-class debut as the Welsh county won by an innings, but this was the only other victory during a summer noted more for losses than wins.
As defeat followed defeat, other amateurs opted to appear in some of the more relaxed and less pressurised games for some of the wandering elevens or agreed to go on tours with their club sides, rather than playing against the English counties chock-a-bloc of worldly-wise professionals. Many of the paid players in Glamorgan’s ranks were past their best, or frankly just not good enough. Ironically, one of the professionals to get a trial at the start of the season was a player called Joe King!
The performance of Derbyshire’s Bill Bestwick rather summed up Glamorgan’s fortunes during the Championship match in mid-June at the Arms Park. Either side of the Great War, the former miner had played club cricket in South Wales and, together with his son Robert, had played Minor County cricket for Glamorgan. The Welsh county had courted his services for 1921 but the Heanor-born seamer opted to re-join Derbyshire, and in the match at Cardiff, the 46 year-old took all ten wickets in Glamorgan’s second innings at cost of just 40 runs, and all having spent the previous evening drinking heavily with some of his former colleagues from Neath CC. How Glamorgan’s officials must have wished they had been able to offer the irascible fast bowler more cash to stay in South Wales.