Review of the season – 1960

1960 was Wilf Wooller’s last season as Glamorgan’s captain. Although he made a further appearance two years later when the Club faced an injury crisis, the summer of 1960 was his swansong. Those who thought he would depart the county scene in a blaze of glory were proved wrong as Glamorgan ended in a disappointing 11th spot, with Wooller missing a dozen matches, largely through injury plus the wear and tear of previous summers.

Wooller only claimed twelve wickets and struck a solitary fifty, against Hampshire at Swansea, before signing off as the Club’s full-time captain in the end of season match at the Steel Company of Wales’ redeveloped ground at Margam. Given his outstanding efforts over so many years, the game against Sussex did not prove to be a fitting finale and was instead something of a damp squib as the contest, played amidst intermittent drizzle and smoke blowing across the ground from the furnaces, ended in a watery draw.

When Wooller was injured the leadership passed initially to Allan Watkins. Despite the all-rounder’s years of service plus his international experience, the captaincy weighed heavily on his mind and, after a poor mid-season run, he handed over the baton to Gilbert Parkhouse. The opener was then injured for the visit to the Aigburth ground in Liverpool for the match against Lancashire who were riding high in the title race and Watkins was named as leader as the team headed by train to the north-west. However, the night before the game, the demons returned in Watkins’ mind. “Something seemed to tell me that I couldn’t be responsible,” he admitted later in his memoirs. “I couldn’t get my mind together to concentrate on running things.”

Don Shepherd stepped into the breach and oversaw a stirring one-wicket victory, thanks to 83 in the first innings from Bernard Hedges and 66 from Watkins who freed from the worries of captaincy made a carefree half-century. ‘Shep’ himself took five wickets in Lancashire’s first innings before Jim McConnon and Don Ward, the diminutive all-rounder from Tonypandy, spun Glamorgan to a famous victory in the dying moments of the game as large storm clouds gathered over the Mersey Estuary and looked set to bring a watery and premature ending.

1960 was Shepherd’s Benefit Year and he rose to the occasion with a tally of 142 wickets at just 17 apiece. His efforts also more than made up for another niggling injury to McConnon, and the loss of form, and confidence by Jim Pressdee. During the summer, ‘Shep’ produced some fine performances, especially on his home patch at Swansea, including an eleven-wicket match haul in the victory over Warwickshire, plus figures of 8/45 against the Springboks, but his finest hour that summer at St. Helen’s came in the 72-run victory over Yorkshire. He took 5/52 in the Tykes first innings before skilfully joining forces with Ward as the visitors were bundled out for 144 on the final afternoon.

It was a fitting reward for the off-cutter and his team having the previous week come within a hair’s breadth of defeating Yorkshire at Bradford. The game had been a real dog-fight and was finely poised with Yorkshire two runs short of their target with their last pair at the crease as ‘Shep’ produced a superb delivery which completely baffled Mick Cowan before shaving the off stump. But the bails did not drop and, next over, Ray Illingworth struck the winning runs, leaving the visitors to rue their bad luck.

Although Glamorgan did not record any further victories after the win over Yorkshire at Swansea, there was plenty for the Glamorgan supporters to smile about in the closing month of the summer, especially the continued development of Alan Jones and Tony Lewis as talented young batters. With Parkhouse in the twilight years of his illustrious years, it was pleasing to see Jones make the number three position his own whilst Lewis, after a decent time as a Freshman at Cambridge plus a maiden century for the Light Blues at Taunton, scored over 600 runs after coming down in July and won his Glamorgan cap.