After the disharmony and public airing of dirty washing the previous summer, the long, hot summer of 1959 thankfully saw a revival in Glamorgan’s fortunes with thirteen victories being recorded with the Welsh county rising up to sixth place in the Championship table. In fact, they were only denied second spot when the last two Middlesex wickets eluded their bowlers in the closing match of the summer on the hallowed turf at Lord’s.
With his authority restored and no hint of any internal shenanigans. Wilf Wooller led the side with renewed vigour. Gilbert Parkhouse enjoyed his best-ever season as he amassed a record 2,071 runs and regained his place in the England team. Bernard Hedges, Jim McConnon and Don Shepherd were all in fine form, whilst Peter Walker – after his breakthrough summer the previous year with the bat – made great headway as a true all-rounder.
In all, Walker scored 1,540 runs, took 79 wickets and held 64 catches to break Maurice Turnbull’s Club record for the most taken by a fielder for the Welsh county. His tally also saw him end the summer as the leading fielder in the country with the tall and agile man taking some breathtaking catches, especially at leg-slip.
Several came in match-winning situations such as against Middlesex at Swansea, where the visitors were chasing 158 on the final afternoon. When Shepherd took the ninth wicket with the visitors on 137, Glamorgan seemed poised for another victory, but Henry Tilly and Bob Hurst then shared a stubborn last wicket partnership which took the total to 155 and one boundary away from a completing a stunning fightback. But Tilly then leg-glanced McConnon for what looked like the winning runs only for Walker at leg-slip to take-off, diving full stretch with his left hand to pluck the ball out of the air before cushioning his landing as he hit the ground with Glamorgan winning a thriller by just two runs.
There was also a new face behind the stumps as Haydn Davies had retired amidst the rancour and recriminations of the previous Autumn. David Evans was the new keeper with Allan Watkins taking over as senior professional. With Wooller still having duties as an England selector, Watkins duly captained the side in eight Championship matches, as well as the contest against the Indians at the Arms Park during mid-May. It saw a young and inexperienced side adroitly led by Watkins to a 51-run victory with Jim Pressdee flourishing in the absence of Wooller by scoring his maiden first-class hundred before McConnon, another to relish the kid glove treatment, spinning the Welsh county to a well-deserved and largely unexpected success.
Watkins also led Glamorgan to three other Championship victories, starting with a six victory against Worcestershire at Swansea with McConnon taking 8/52 before a century by Gilbert saw Glamorgan to their target. Watkins then led Glamorgan to a four-wicket win over Sussex at Newport with Walker making an unbeaten 83, followed in July by a nine-wicket demolition of Warwickshire at Neath where Hedges made a fine hundred before Shepherd took 5/9 as the West Midlands side were dismissed for a paltry 61.
There might have even been a fourth or fifth victory under Watkins’ stewardship as Kent narrowly won by one wicket in the last over of a titanic game at Dartford after another hundred by Pressdee had allowed Watkins to boldly leave the home side a target of 248 in 55 overs. A fortnight later at Edgbaston, Shepherd and McConnon reduced Warwickshire to nine wickets down with forty minutes remaining, but Basil Bridge and Ossie Wheatley – neither of whom had any pretensions with bat in hand – somehow managed to play out time and frustrate the leader of Glamorgan’s renaissance.
Another factor behind the Club’s improved fortunes was that the senior bowlers remained fit for most of the season. However, in August, when visiting Cheltenham, there were doubts over the fitness of Watkins, but with the likelihood of a turning wicket at the College ground, Wooller opted against choosing a third seamer to replace him and opted instead for the emerging batting talents of Alan Rees.
However, when it was Glamorgan’s turn to bowl, the humid weather favoured the visiting seamers rather than the spinners. Together with Frank Clarke and the nagging accuracy of Shepherd’s off-cutters, Gloucestershire were forced to follow-on. Despite a tight hamstring, the 45 year-old Wooller continued to bowl, limping in off a shortened run and hobbling off in between overs for pain-killing injections and further strapping for his leg. Despite these ailments, Wilf claimed four wickets as Gloucestershire succumbed to an innings defeat with John Evans, the Club’s masseur, summing up The Skipper’s situation by saying “I reckon if he took off all of that strapping, his leg would fall off!”