The Glamorgan squad had enjoyed themselves in 1961 under Ossie Wheatley’s less abrasive captaincy style, whilst more opposing captains than before seemed prepared to have a game with the Welsh county rather than looking to settle old scores so there was a great sense of anticipation for what lay ahead in 1962
Several of the players had blossomed under Ossie’s leadership, not least Jim Pressdee, who besides making a century against the Australians at the Arms Park struck three other in the Championship. Pressdee followed this up in 1962 by enjoying his best summer to date with the bat, scoring 1,911 runs and making three further centuries, starting with an unbeaten 127 against Cambridge University at Fenner’s, followed by 118* in the victory over Essex at Ebbw Vale and another unbeaten 130 against Kent at Canterbury. However, his most important innings was an unbeaten and assertive 80 against Yorkshire at the Arms Park in early June as Glamorgan lowered the colours of Yorkshire who went on the win the 1962 Championship.
Later in the week, there was further success for Ossie’s team at the Arms Park as they defeated the touring Pakistani’s by seven wickets at the Arms Park with the star of the show being Alwyn Harris, another of the promising young colts from Ynysygerwn CC. The second day of the match against the tourists saw Alwyn join an elite group of Glamorgan batsmen to have scored a century in victories over their Test-playing opponents, with his fine innings of 101 helping Glamorgan to match the tourist’s first innings total. Alwyn shared a second wicket stand of 195 with Alan Jones, a fellow left-hander and when Glamorgan drew level with the Pakistani total, Ossie Wheatley enterprisingly declared. The Glamorgan captain then took 4/38 as the tourists were humbled for 158 before an unbeaten 81 from Bernard Hedges saw the Welsh county to a seven-wicket victory.
1962 proved to be Alwyn’s only summer of regular 1st XI cricket, but it was one which saw him pass the coveted thousand-run mark with an aggregate of 1,048 runs. Tony Lewis also topped the 1,000 run mark and posted his maiden Championship century with an unbeaten 123 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Alan Jones, the heir apparent to the opening slot, also completed the first of his 52 hundreds in first-class cricket for Glamorgan by making 121 against Sussex at Hastings and, by the end of the summer, had become Bernard Hedges’ regular partner at the top of the order.
For the first time in several seasons, there were some financial concerns at the end of the summer as gate receipts fell to £5,500, and their lowest in the post-war era. The Club’s expenditure had also risen to in excess of £36,000 with Championship matches during 1962 staged at six venues – Llanelli, Pontypridd, Neath, Newport, Ebbw Vale and Margam – in addition to the traditional grounds at Cardiff and Swansea. This rise in expenditure prompted an investigation into ways of reducing costs, whilst a membership drive was commenced.
But the main talking point over the winter of 1962/63 was the scheme by the Welsh Rugby Union to create a National Stadium in the heart of the Welsh capital city. Issues over the quality of the playing surface at the Arms Park rugby ground had reared their head yet again, and at a time when the Rugby Football Union had a pristine surface for England’s games at Twickenham, whilst their Scottish and Irish counterparts also had good facilities at Murrayfield and Lansdowne Road respectively.
1962 saw the Welsh Rugby Union commission a series of reports with an attractive proposal being floated about a National Stadium on the site of the current South Wales Police’s base at Waterton Cross near Bridgend. The news that international rugby might leave Cardiff came as a bombshell to the officials of Cardiff Athletic Club as well as to the shopowners and hoteliers in the Welsh capital who greatly benefitted from trade over international weekends.
Much to the amusement of Wilf Wooller, the plan to move the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club to Sophia Gardens, first mooted back in the 1950s re-surfaced that winter, as the developers finalised plans for creating a National Stadium at the Arms Park, moving Cardiff RFC to the adjoining cricket ground and taking the cricket, tennis and hockey sections of the Athletic Club to Sophia Gardens.
The Glamorgan officials had long dreamt about the Club having the chance to create its own facilities and create a national centre for Welsh cricket. To their delight, the scheme for Bridgend was dropped, and with both the Welsh Rugby Union and Cardiff Athletic Club prepared to subsidise the removal costs, plan for the redevelopment of the Arms Park were given the green light early in 1963, although it wasn’t to be for a further four years that Glamorgan were to play at their new home in the Welsh capital.