Glamorgan had a new captain for 1924 with Johnnie Clay, a member of the well-known family who had a thriving ship-owning business at Cardiff Docks, now at the helm. The tall 26 year-old had been a tearaway fast bowler in his youth at Winchester College as well as for Monmouthshire after the Great War, and it had been in his faster style that Johnnie had first appeared for Glamorgan in 1921.
A series of back problems meant that during 1923 he switched to off-spin, largely as a result of some advice and coaching from Fred Bowley, and during the winter months he walked around Cardiff holding a small rubber ball in his right hand, regularly squeezing it tightly in his fingers in order to strengthen them for the new tasks which lay ahead as a full-time spinner.
He proceeded to lead Glamorgan to five victories in their 24 Championship matches – their highest to date – and saw them rise up to 13th place in the table. He had the benefit of a more settled team, with for the first time in the Club’s history, the same captain and wicket-keeper appearing in every game.
The youngsters blooded in previous seasons developed under his leadership, and the ongoing tutelage of coach Fred Bowley. Dai Davies, the Carmarthenshire all-rounder, established a place and built on his dramatic home debut the previous summer when he had been rushed by taxi from Llanelli to Swansea after completing a double shift at the town’s steelworks.
Cyril Walters, the gifted young batsman from Neath Grammar School, played a series of impressive innings, although the presence of the fresh-faced teenager took by surprise some of the officials at away grounds. Indeed, an overzealous Surrey steward refused to allow him into the pavilion, and was granted access after Clay was summoned down from the dressing rooms. “Yes, I know he is very young” said the Glamorgan captain “but he’s in my team, and he`s playing here today, so please let him in!”
His presence though could not prevent an innings defeat, and it was a similar story in the following contest when Yorkshire visited the Arms Park. But Glamorgan’s luck appeared to be changing in the third game of the summer at Liverpool. It proved to be an extraordinary encounter which saw the opening day washed out. The game duly got underway on the second morning with the visiting bowlers fully exploiting the damp conditions. Helm Spencer, who had played for the Red Rose county before the War, led the way with the seamer taking 5/9 as Lancashire were dismissed before lunch for a mere 49.
As Clay later reflected “sporting enthusiasts in South Wales who bought an early edition of the evening paper to see the lunch score, or perhaps the 2 o’clock winner (or both) immediately rushed off and sent telegrams of congratulation. But they started to arrive just as Glamorgan were going out to field a second time having been shot out for 22!” Their innings lasted just 15.3 overs, with Cec Parkin taking 6/6 including the first five wickets at no cost as the Welsh county were dismissed for what remains their lowest-ever Championship total. In all, 25 wickets tumbled on an action-packed day, before the following day, conditions eased with Lancashire maintaining their superiority before wrapping up victory by 128 runs.
By the time the Red Rose county arrived in Swansea for the return game in mid-August, Glamorgan has suffered a further seven defeats, whilst the lucrative tourist match at St. Helen’s over the August Bank Holiday had been decimated by the weather, with just two sessions of play against the South Africans. With the Club facing a sizeable deficit, and with several regulars out of form, the selectors opted to blood further young talent including Maurice Turnbull, the seventeen year-old batsman from Downside School. The fresh-faced teenager, from another well-known ship-owning family in Cardiff, duly made a debut in a match worthy of a Boy’s Own story as Glamorgan registered their finest Championship victory since being awarded first-class status.
Turnbull’s steady and nerveless batting in both innings meant that Lancashire were left with a target of 146 on the final afternoon, and on 84/3 the visitors appeared to have the measure of the Glamorgan attack. But it was at this point that Clay sauntered over to Ryan and said “Right, Frank. It`s now or never – I know you can do it!” He responded by producing a match-winning spell of 7/23. As one journalist wrote “the Lancashire batsmen must have thought they were in the coils of a serpent. Bringing the ball down from his fine height, Ryan spun it like a top on the dusty surface, and batsman after batsman groped and lunged in vain as the ball spun wickedly passed their bats.”
When the final wicket fell, Lancashire were 39 runs short of their target, and Ryan was carried shoulder high off the field by his colleagues and several members, before receiving a standing ovation from the crowd, estimated at 6,000. The excitement though was too much for two of the home supporters, with one gentleman badly spraining an ankle after exuberantly jumping up and down too vigorously, whilst another ricked his back as he tripped over the pavilion steps as he ran out onto the outfield to congratulate the Glamorgan bowlers!