Glamorgan slipped back to 16th place in the County Championship table in 1938 with several players being hit by injury. Johnnie Clay, Wilf Hughes, Cyril Smart, Jack Mercer and Maurice Turnbull himself were all struck down by various ailments, with the latter injuring his left leg turning sharply in a game of squash on the courts at Cardiff Squash Club which he himself had helped to create in Ryder Street.
After an operation on his damaged cartilage, Turnbull was back in the side for the game against Yorkshire at the Arms Park – a historic fixture in the wider history of the Club as it marked the debut of all-rounder Wilf Wooller in Glamorgan colours. The man who was to lead the county after the Second World War had gone into the coal trade in Cardiff after graduating from Cambridge in 1935. For several years Turnbull had been thinking about including the Welsh rugby international, but the fact that he had played Minor County for his native Denbighshire meant he was not immediately eligible to play for Glamorgan.
It was a different question now that Wooller was living in Cardiff but with a full-time job, Wooller was content to play club cricket for St. Fagans. Turnbull knew of Wooller’s abilities and with Mercer nursing an injury, he sent the veteran on a scouting mission to St. Fagans. “He is abig lad, gets a lot of pace off the pitch and moves it about,” were Mercer’s comments and, after Turnbull had spoken to Sir Herbert Merrett, Wooller’s boss and a kindly benefactor to Welsh sport, the all-rounder was given time off to play against Yorkshire in what also happened to be Mercer`s Benefit Match.
Wooller make a spectacular start, taking 3/22 and swinging the new ball appreciably and, as he later recalled, “at luncheon, I could barely believe my good fortune, but what was even more surprising was the worried look on the faces of some of the old Glamorgan players, especially Mercer. He had been looking forward to a sizeable share of the takings from the three days play, but now he was perplexed by our good start and did not know whether to laugh or cry at the prospect of the game being over early!” To Mercer`s relief, Yorkshire recovered and the game eventually went into the final afternoon, with the Tykes winning by 130 runs.
Wooller also secured leave to play in early August as Glamorgan met the Australians at Swansea. Another enormous crowd turned up, eager to watch again the great Don Bradman and to see how he would fare against Johnnie Clay who had been restored to full fitness. There were barely any spare seats by the time the match began, and even when Turnbull went out for the toss with Bradman, the pair were mobbed by hundreds of spectators. Glamorgan batted first, but after only an hour;s play, heavy rain fell and play was abandoned for the day. The prospect of seeing Bradman bat on the second day attracted another enormous turnout, with around 25,000 people inside the St.Helen’s ground, but all they saw was Glamorgan extend their innings before rain fell again and heralded a premature finish.
For the third consecutive morning, the ground was soon full of excited chatter, but the start was delayed as there had been heavy rain earlier in the morning and the outfield was saturated. Even so, people still filed slowly into the ground, and patiently waited as the umpires made several inspections. The tourists were keen to make a departure for their next match, but Turnbull persuaded them to stay on and at 4 p.m. play began. It was not really fit for play, but Turnbull said he was happy to declare and take his players out into the field so that the crowd could be rewarded for their patience. Bradman graciously agreed.
The price of field entrance had also been reduced to sixpence, and the pennies were soon rattling into the club`s coffers as news spread around Swansea that the Australians were about to bat, and with a further 3,000 people squeezed into the ground it was not long before the batting maestro appeared as Wooller dismissed Jack Fingleton with just three runs on the board. The mighty Don soon made some forcing strokes, before Turnbull introduced Clay into the attack and started to tease the great Australian.
Years later, wicket-keeper Haydn Davies still remembered the battle that afternoon between master batsman and master bowler. “Johnnie was all arms and legs, and quite difficult to pick up, unless like me you were used to facing him. Bowling to Bradman, Johnnie beat him through the air on several occasions, and in sheer desperation, the Don eventually went down the wicket, got beaten by Johnnie’s superb flight and I stumped him. The crowd cheered loudly as the umpire raised his finger, but as we gathered in mid-wicket, Johnnie was not as overjoyed as everyone else, as it suddenly dawned on him the effect Bradman’s departure might have on gate-money. He turned to Turnbull and said “Damn it, they will be wanting their money back now!”