1932 saw few signs of improvement either on or off the field. Only three Championship victories were recorded with two coming in low-scoring games at Cowbridge. The first happened in early June against Leicestershire with the visitor’s losing by an innings as Jack Mercer and Johnnie Clay fully exploited the dry wicket. The second came in July after the weather interrupted the game with Somerset, who had much the worse of the conditions. With heavy rain on the Sunday and first thing on Monday morning, conditions were stacked in the favour of the bowlers, with Somerset dismissed for 88 before following-on and being humbled by Mercer and Clay for a second time as the visitors were dismissed for 40. However, the gloss was taken off the innings victory as the MCC informed Glamorgan that they did not believe that Cowbridge should be allocated any more first-class cricket owing to its unsatisfactory pitches.
Despite the lack of success, the mood remained high in the Glamorgan camp as evidenced by events during the game at Stourbridge against Worcestershire. At the start of play on the final day, Glamorgan were 188/6 and staring another defeat in the face. As the not out batsmen Arnold Dyson and Trevor Every were strapping on their pads on the balcony of the pavilion, Dyson turned to his junior partner and said “Trevor, stay with me till I get a hundred and I’ll give you ten bob.” Turnbull overheard this and immediately said “Score fifty Trevor and I’ll get you a decent bottle of champagne.” Jack Mercer was also sitting nearby and chipped in by adding “Do that and I`ll give you fifty fags!”
Buoyed by the jolly banter and general camaraderie of his colleagues, Every duly helped Dyson to his century, before posting a maiden Championship hundred. Every was eventually dismissed for 116 and returned to see his kit-bag bulging with his prizes. As he unbuckled his pads, Turnbull handed over the bottle of bubbly saying “You’ve really earned this Trevor and thank you very much.” His efforts nearly set up an unlikely victory as wickets soon tumbled when Worcestershire began their run-chase, leaving their lower order to drop anchor and bat out for a draw.
1932 also saw the Arms Park host the Test Trial as Turnbull used his influence within the corridors of power at Lord’s to persuade the MCC to stage the game on Glamorgan soil. He reasoned that the presence of so many star names in the two teams would hopefully swell the attendance and boost the Club’s coffers, but rain restricted play to just three hours on the opening day, followed by complete washouts on the next two days.
Fortunately, there was a large crowd, and better weather, for the end-of-season encounter against Nottinghamshire at the Arms Park, with the large attendance stemming from the fact that Harold Larwood and Bill Voce – the visiting pair of fast bowlers – had announced in the week leading up to the game that they would be experimenting with fast leg-theory prior to boarding the ship for England’s winter tour of Australia.
The plan, which subsequently became known as Bodyline had been hatched in a bid to stifle the batting of Don Bradman but the experiment at the Arms Park rather back-fired as Turnbull give a masterly display of batting and during a three and a quarter hours` stand with Dai Davies, the pair feasted on the England men as they added 220 for the third wicket, with Turnbull ending unbeaten on 160 as Glamorgan ended the day on 354-4. The visitors were unhappy about these events and whilst quenching their thirst after play in nearby taverns, they grumbled about what they considered to be a feather-bed wicket. Their complaints went on long into the night and after time had been called in the pub, some of the visitors made a detour back into the Arms Park ground and expressed their contempt about the lethargic surface by “watering” the wicket.
Several Pressmen had also been in the tavern, and after over overhearing the heated discussions about the merits of Bodyline, they followed the visiting bowlers and witnessed the events out in the middle. Trevor Preece, the Cardiff groundsman, had tried to stop the visitor’s prank and with damp, rust-coloured patches on his wicket, he contacted Turnbull who had been dining with the visiting captain in the Grand Hotel. After hearing about the incident and the presence of local journalists, Turnbull told Preece that he should discretely repair the wicket well before anyone arrived before the start of play. He also made his way to the offices of ‘The Western Mail’, a few hundred yards away from the Arms Park, and successfully persuaded the Night Editor not to run the exclusive story in his 1 a.m. edition about the antics of the visiting players.