1965 is remembered as the season when Glamorgan mounted another sustained bid for the Championship title, the summer when two of the Welsh county’s bowlers each took nine wickets in a match, and the season when the Welsh county made the South Africans follow-on in the tourist’s match at Swansea.
Glamorgan’s fine form in the Championship was linked to the fact that 1965 saw few injuries allowing Ossie Wheatley to regularly select a full-strength side. When Glamorgan recorded their fourth success in mid-June by beating Sussex by eight wickets, it took the Welsh county to the top of the table. Their third success a fortnight before against Yorkshire at Swansea had also seen Don Shepherd and Jim Pressdee, each taking nine wickets in an innings – the only time in a first-class match where a pair of bowlers have achieved this feat.
Click here to find out more about this remarkable match and the performance of Pressdee and Shepherd.
The two spinners were in outstanding form the following month when the 1965 South Africans visited Swansea. Glamorgan posted 301 in their first innings with Tony Lewis making a handsome century before Pressdee, in between some showers, got amongst the tourist’s batting, claiming 4/11 as the Welsh county enforced the follow-on. He took three further wickets the following day but the tourists put up the shutters as the game ended in a draw with the Springboks eight wickets down and Shepherd returning the magnificent figures of 38-24-33-2.
The euphoria of being on top of the table had disappeared at the end of June at Swansea as Middlesex recorded a ten-wicket victory. But Wheatley’s team bounced back with the first of two victories over Lancashire at Swansea to keep Glamorgan in the title race. Rain then interfered with the match against Leicestershire at Ebbw Vale in late July, but it did not prevent a positive outcome as thanks to a typically sporting declaration from the Glamorgan captain, he challenged the East Midlands side to make 149 in 110 minutes on the damp surface. The conditions were ideal for Don Shepherd and in the space of a remarkable eighty minutes, the wily spinner returned figures of 10-8-2-5 as the visitors were dismissed for a paltry 33.
Click here to read more about this match at Ebbw Vale in 1965.
Leicestershire could do little right against Glamorgan during 1965 as a month later they succumbed by an innings at Grace Road. Rain again interrupted play on the first two days and a tame draw seemed on the cards on the final morning as Leicestershire began their second innings 68 runs in arrears. But the overnight rain had freshened up the wicket as Jeff Jones delivered one of the most hostile spells in his career. Without conceding a run, he reduced the home side to 3-5 before a partial recovery took place as Leicestershire were dismissed before lunch for 40 with the left-arm paceman returning career-best figures of 13-9-11-8.
A measure of how fast and skiddy the surface was can be gauged by the fact that the Glamorgan slip cordon, having seen Jeff strike Maurice Hallam a painful blow on the torso moved back five yards, before retreating even further back after another sharply rising delivery saw David Evans leap up to get his finger tips to the ball. By now the close catchers were close enough to the boundary’s edge to engage in conversation with the waiting batsmen on the pavilion balcony, and with conditions threatening life and limb, Hallam had a wild flail at a delivery and edged to Peter Walker at first slip. He then walked past the jubilant fielder and said “Well caught Peter, Thank God I can now go back to the pavilion!”
The upshot of the innings victory at Grace Road was that the county title would return to Wales if Glamorgan secured maximum points in their three remaining games. But just as some supporters were thinking about getting out the bunting again, Glamorgan were caught on a damp wicket at the Arms Park as Harold Rhodes, the fiery Derbyshire quick bowler, claimed nine wickets to see the Peakites to a 91-run victory.
Morale was temporarily raised by another fine win over Surrey at Swansea, with Wheatley leading by example with the ball as Glamorgan won by 38 runs. But the weather interfered with the final game against Essex at Llanelli as Robin Hobbs exploited a sticky wicket, claiming twelve wickets to see the visitors to victory inside two days.