Wilf Wooller already possessed a magnificent sporting c.v. He had featured in the first-ever Welsh rugby team to defeat England at Twickenham in February 1933. Two years later, he had played a starring role when the Welsh side beat the mighty All Blacks at the Arms Park and, just for good measure, Wilf had also appeared for Cardiff City in some of their footballing friendlies, whilst in 1948 he became the first man to lead Glamorgan to the County Championship title during a daffodil golden summer. It coincided with Donald Bradman’s farewell to Test cricket and Australia’s “Invincibles” and, although Glamorgan were not quite invincible themselves, it was their best to date as Wilf’s team proved themselves to no longer be the cinderellas of the county game.
When the season began, there was little to suggest what lay ahead with the professional staff augmented by the Middlesex duo of fast bowler Norman Hever and batter Jim Eaglestone, plus Gilbert Parkhouse, a promising strokemaker from Swansea. The youngster marked his debut season by amassing over 1,000 runs with his graceful and effortless batting helping Glamorgan make a flying start to the season by beating Somerset, Essex and Worcestershire. A draw with Lancashire at Old Trafford was followed by victory over Somerset at Swansea thanks to a dozen wickets from Stan Trick, a slow left-arm bowler from Briton Ferry (seen far right in the photograph above) who had been plucked from club cricket after a series of outstanding performances in the South Wales and Monmouthshire League.
By the end of May, Glamorgan stood proudly on top of the Championship table but Wilf’s team were brought back down to earth with a bump at Derby where, on a green-tinged surface, they lost by 301 runs and twice saw their batting filleted by the Derbyshire seamers. But there was a swift return to winning ways as Glamorgan rattled up a series of four successive victories, thanks in no small part to their batsmen, especially the in-form Willie Jones whose purple patch began with a career-best 207 against Kent at Gravesend.
In his typically self-effacing way, Willie returned to the changing rooms to acknowledge the congratulations of his colleagues, and said “I`ll never do that again!” Yet a fortnight later, he and Emrys Davies added a record 313 for the third wicket against Essex at Brentwood with both men calling to each other in Welsh to confuse the hapless fielders. Each struck double-hundreds, with Jones making an unbeaten 212. Once again, he returned to plenty of back-slapping from his delighted colleagues but this time, as he unbuckled his pads he said “Dieu, everybody’s going to expect me to score 200 every time!”
Another key ingredient was the voracious leg-trap with Wilf’s fielders rarely letting any chance slip through their hands. Whilst there were better batting sides in 1948 and more eye-catching bowling units in the Championship, none were more purposeful and tenacious in the field than Glamorgan. Wilf’s captaincy was another important element. To some his leadership was based on the three B’s: bluff, bluster and barbed comments, but nothing ever happened by accident and there was always a clever strategy to underpinning his efforts, such as the use of a large mangle, plus a pile of old and tattered blankets which were taken by a little lorry to out-grounds should any mopping up operations be required.
The lorry also carried copious amounts of sawdust, with Wilf not being shy in directing his players and office staff onto the outfield to assist in the speed up things by spreading around these chippings. In one game, so much had been spread out that there was barely a blade of grass to be seen. With the ground resembling a circus ring, one opponent christened Wilf as “The Ringmaster” whilst another asked about the whereabouts of the elephants!
With Glamorgan riding high in the Championship table, the visit of the 1948 Australians to Swansea saw another bumper crowd at St. Helen’s. The Club’s administrators were pro-active in ensuring that as many people as possible could be accommodated with a thousand tons of red sandstone being lain at the Town End from which spectators could look down on proceedings, whilst thousands of benches were transferred from the Arms Park. Everything was perfect – except the weather – yet despite morning rain, 20,000 were present as Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, if not quite in full flight across the sodden grass, dismissed Glamorgan for 197. Further rain throughout Sunday did not deter an even bigger audience – estimated at around 27,000 – who were entertained by Miller’s merry 84, before the rain returned in mid-afternoon, this time for good, washing out the rest of the day and all of the third.
Click here to read the rest of the review of the 1948 season.