Glamorgan had a new leader for 1928 with Trevor Arnott replacing Johnnie Clay, who had been promoted to a senior position within his father’s shipping business and was unable to play on a regular basis. Arnott had already enjoyed success with bat and ball at county level, and after agreeing to be available for the whole season, the debonair amateur was appointed as Club captain.
His term in office got off to a promising start as Glamorgan won their opening game against Worcestershire at the Arms Park, but only one other contest was won during the course of the summer, whilst the game against Oxford University also ended in defeat with the undergraduates amassing 494 before forcing the Welsh county to follow-on. There was also some embarrassment before the game even began as Glamorgan considered including an Oxford postgraduate in their team.
The player in question was Murari, a talented all-rounder who had impressed a number of coaches at the university in addition to Jack Hobbs who believed that the Indian had a future in the county game.Murari had studied as an undergraduate at Aberystwyth University so Glamorgan’s officials, believing that he had achieved the necessary residential qualifications, included him in their squad to play at The Parks. But after meeting and chatting with Arnott the night before the game, a few doubts arose about whether or not Murari was qualified, and a replacement was hastily summoned form South Wales.
It became an increasingly unhappy summer for the Welsh county, with the mood in the professional ranks not being helped by rising debts once again, rumours of more players being realised and a series of spats between Arnott and Frank Ryan. As Glamorgan went from defeat to defeat, the captain found it increasingly difficult to handle the maverick and short-tempered spinner, and in mid-July Ryan was omitted from the side, with the Club announcing that he was being rested because of a loss of confidence.
But eyebrows were raised as the out-of-favour spinner proceeded to take ten wickets in Wales’ victory against the West Indians at Llandudno. Wales’ success was in stark contrast to the fortunes of the county club, and not surprisingly there were calls for Ryan to be immediately recalled to the side and to patch up his differences with Arnott.
Around this time, the Club also announced that because of financial difficulties coach Fred Bowley, plus Danny Sullivan and Ryan would not be offered new contracts – decisions that many disagreed with, and ones that got a few tongues wagging about discord behind the scenes and unrest in the professional changing room. Given his success for Wales, there were stern calls for Ryan to be immediately recalled to the side, to patch up his differences with Arnott, and to be offered new terms for 1929. In the face of mounting concerns raised in the newspapers, the committee made a U-turn, recalled the maverick spinner before a few weeks later offering both him and Bowley fresh terms for 1929.
It was though not all doom and gloom amongst the Club as Dai Davies enjoyed a hugely productive season with the bat. Alongside Eddie Bates and John Bell, he was the third batsman by the end of the season to have reached the 1,000-run mark. The season also saw the Carmarthenshire-born batsman become Glamorgan’s first player to score three consecutive Championship hundreds, including a career-best 165* against Sussex at Eastbourne.
This was his second hundred of the season against the South Coast club having a fortnight earlier made 126 at Swansea and sharing in a remarkable ninth wicket stand of 119 with a largely immobile Jack Mercer who had slowly limped out to bat with a runner having damaged a calf muscle in his left leg. With his partner alternating between stout defence and wild swishes, Davies unleashed a massive blow against the bowling of James Langridge, which sent the ball sailing high over rugby stand at the Sea End, over the Mumbles Road and into a coal truck standing on the railway line which ran along the foreshore of Swansea Bay
At the time, nobody was quite sure where the ball had landed, and after a short delay, the game resumed with a replacement ball. But later that day it was discovered by a railwayman, albeit by the time the wagon was being unloaded at the station in Craven Arms. The ball was duly returned to the Glamorgan officials, and for several years, Dai was able to dine out on the story of his feat of hitting a ball all the way from Swansea to Shropshire!
George Lavis, a twenty year-old from Monmouthshire enjoyed success as well in his first season in professional cricket whilst the performances behind the stumps of Trevil Morgan met with favourable comment. A member of the family who owned the large department store in Cardiff, was keeping wicket, Morgan had a fine record for Charterhouse and for Cambridge where he was good friends with Turnbull. His call-up to the county side followed the departure of the out-of-contract Sullivan who had secured a coaching post at Rossall School.
The emergence of these new faces was very encouraging and, in August, Johnnie suggested to the committee a way that more youngsters could be fast-tracked into the 1st XI. It followed news that cash-strapped Monmouthshire were likely to drop out of the Minor County Championship, and Clay’s suggestion was that Glamorgan amalgamated with their neighbours and ran a 2nd XI in the competition allowing the young cricketers to gain valuable experience.
But the Club were finding it expensive to run just one side, never mind two, and although agreeing with the principle of Clay’s suggestion, the financial aspects held sway. In a bid to swell the coffers, a series of raffles and fund-raising events were held, including an amateur boxing show. Local businessman Daniel Radcliffe also dipped into his generous pocket whilst the committee took the hitherto unprecedented step of awarding the lucrative match with the 1929 South Africans, plus two Championship matches to Pontypridd – it was a decision made with more than a gentle nudge to the officials of both Cardiff Athletic Club and Swansea Cricket and Football, whose high rental charges still remained something of a millstone around the neck of the county’s officials.
The closing game of the summer in September 1928 at the Arms Park had also witnessed a rather farcical end to the season. The final day began with Glamorgan’s last pair – Emrys Davies and Frank Ryan – at the wicket with sixteen runs still needed to avoid an innings defeat. Few thought that they would achieve this, not least their colleagues, most of whom decided not to get changed and remained in their civvies when play began.
But the pair wiped off the arrears and added another single before the last wicket fell. The opening batsmen ran off to quickly strap on their pads, but the usual convention of rolling the wicket was waived as six Nottinghamshire players remained out in the middle as substitute fielders, joining Davies, Ryan and three of the Glamorgan amateurs who had got changed. Maurice Turnbull duly bowled a gentle lob with Davies keeping wicket without gloves or pads. He duly missed the ball which ran away for two byes, as Nottinghamshire completed a facile victory by ten wickets.