Amongst the many messages of congratulations received in the Glamorgan office during September 1969 was a telegram from Prince Charles which said “I am delighted by your splendid win, especially in this particular year. Many congratulations – do it again next year!” As events unfolded in 1970 Tony Lewis and his team nearly followed their royal instructions and ended up narrowly failing to retain the county title.
To celebrate their Championship success, Glamorgan went on their first-ever pre-season tour during April 1970 as the Welsh county visited the Caribbean for a couple of first-class games, against the Windward Islands, plus Trinidad and Tobago, as well as playing four other friendlies during a three- week period.
The tour was the brainchild of Peter Walker who, together with his good friend and journalist Peter Corrigan, secured sponsorship from Rizla, the makers of cigarette papers who had a large factory in Cardiff. At a cost of just £5,000, fourteen players plus coach Phil Clift travelled to the West Indies, with Bryan Davis meeting up with the party in the Windward Islands.
Tony Lewis led the Glamorgan side in their endeavours in the West Indies having also spent February and March leading the MCC on their tour of Ceylon and the Far East, which included games in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Alan Jones and Don Shepherd were also chosen for the tour which saw Jones strike sublime hundreds in Colombo and Bangkok, and together with their county colleagues who travelled to the West Indies, they were raring to go when the county season began in late April with Glamorgan defeating Kent in the opening Championship match of the summer at Swansea. Despite losses to Warwickshire and Cambridge University, Glamorgan remained in the upper echelons of the table as they beat Yorkshire at Middlesbrough, before completing back-to-back wins in early June over Somerset at Swansea and Essex at Ilford.
There was great rejoicing in the Glamorgan ranks when it was confirmed that Alan Jones had received a well-deserved and long overdue call-up by the England selectors to play in the first Test Match against the Rest of the World at Lord’s on June 17th. The series had been hastily put together following the cancellation of the South Africa tour for political reasons and, with generous sponsorship from Rothmans, some of the leading Test players were assembled for the five-match series against England
Alan made 5 and 0 in the games at Lord’s, both times caught behind the wicket by India’s wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer off the bowling, rather ironically off Springbok all-rounder, Mike Procter. Colin Cowdrey and John Edrich had missed the game at Lord’s but both were fully fit for the second match of the rubber at Trent Bridge in early July so Alan was one of the players from the opening game to make way for them. Soon afterwards, he ricked his back and missed the last six weeks of the county season.
Opposite – Alan Jones. of Glamorgan and England, walking out to bat at Lord’s in 1970. Photo Credit – Neil Robinson / MCC Library.
Despite his absence, Glamorgan remained in the top three of the table during mid-July as they defeated Somerset at the Moorlands ground in Glastonbury, and all after Don Shepherd and Lawrence Williams having to valiantly avoid the follow-on during the Welsh county’s first innings. After the Somerset batsmen went for quick runs, Glamorgan’s target was 331 on the final day, but this proved to be quite academic as Majid and Tony Lewis made assertive fifties before Bryan Davis posted 91 to see Glamorgan to a comfortable five-wicket win.
The Welsh county went to the top of the table during mid-August after another memorable win over Sussex at Swansea set up by some assertive batting from the overseas contingent and another bold declaration by Tony Lewis. Rain had seen the loss of eight hours play in the first two days, so after a delayed start on day three, Tony declared with Glamorgan 148 in arrears. Jim Parks responded by declaring the Sussex second innings after three overs as the Welsh county were left with a target of 154 in the remaining two and a half hours. It became a rather academic exercise as Bryan Davis and Majid stroked the ball all around the St. Helen’s ground to see their adopted county to a nine-wicket victory.
Kent were closing the gap in third place as Glamorgan met Northants at Cardiff, eager to maintain their winning ways. The weather affected play once again, before Roger Prideaux, the visiting captain, set a challenging target of 241 in 150 minutes on the final day as the game ended in a draw. The final match of the season at Swansea during the last week of August saw Shepherd bowl Glamorgan to a four-wicket wicket, with the off-cutter taking a dozen wickets to confirm his standing as the finest uncapped spinner on the county circuit.
His efforts meant that the outcome of the title would not be decided until the final round of games, with Glamorgan meeting Lancashire at Cardiff whilst Kent were playing Leicestershire at Folkestone. A victory for any three would guarantee the title, but the weather interrupted the match at Sophia Gardens after Lancashire had posted 303-5. Glamorgan were trapped on a damp wicket and were forced to follow-on, before a defiant 114 from Walker in Glamorgan’s second innings put them into the ascendancy. Just as Walker was reaching three figures, news came through from Folkestone that Kent were poised to clinch an innings victory so Tony Lewis, desperate for another win, declared and set Lancashire 137 during the final session.
After losing early wickets, Lancashire battened down the hatches as the game ended in a draw, but Kent’s innings victory at Folkestone meant that they lifted the county title, despite the best efforts of the Welsh county who ended up as runners-up. There were some crumbs of consolation, though, at the end of the summer in the first-class games as Shepherd topped the national bowling averages, and with 106 victims to his name, ‘Shep’ became the most recent, and probably the last-ever, Glamorgan bowler to reach the landmark of a hundred or more wickets in a season. Eifion Jones also set a new Club record with 94 victims, with the Glamorgan gloveman ending the summer as the leading wicket-keeper in the country, besides coming so very close to selection for the MCC winter tour of Australia.