For a few ghastly moments on 29 May, 1971 it looked as if Glamorgan’s Roger Davis had been fatally injured whilst fielding in his customary position of short-leg in the Welsh county’s Championship match against Warwickshire at Sophia Gardens. The incident happened shortly before tea on the opening day of the contest after Malcolm Nash, one of the most accurate of bowlers on the county circuit had taken the new ball and bowled an in-swinger to Neal Abberley. For once, the ball reached the opening batsman on the full on leg-stump with his on-drive striking Roger, who was standing no more than four yards away a sickening blow on his left temple.
As Peter Walker recalled, “it was obviously a serious injury. We all, Neal included, rushed to Roger’s prostrate body. He was unconscious. Then the colour gradually started to drain from his face; he started to twitch and turn blue. His breathing came in short, stifled gasps. Unqualified as medics, none of us had any idea what to do.”
In the macabre silence, the players and umpires frantically waived to the pavilion where the duty doctor was sat but, at the same time, one of the members, Dr. Colin Lewis from Pontypridd, recognised the severity of the incident and, after vaulting over the picket fence in front of the seating area at the River End, ran on and administered life-saving treatment. After putting Roger on his back, Dr. Lewis put his finger down Roger’s throat and pulled his tongue back into place so it no longer blocked his windpipe. Together with the Club’s duty doctor, they gave Roger the kiss of life and stabilised him until an ambulance arrived.
As further medical attention was given to the stricken fielder, the umpires took the players off the field for an early tea. After Roger had been loaded onto the ambulance and taken to nearby St. David’s Hospital, a heavy shower kept the players off the field for a further half an hour. When play resumed Tony Cordle, wearing a motorcyclist’s helmet went into Roger’s position, albeit at twice the distance he normally stood.
It was a moment of levity and there were further smiles on the faces of the Glamorgan players the following morning when it was confirmed that Roger was conscious again in hospital, albeit with a hairline fracture plus a surgical drain into his skull to remove a blood clot which had built up after the blow. Roger remained in hospital for a further six weeks or so, and after being given speech therapy, he was able to properly communicate again. He also met up with Dr. Lewis and together with his family thanked him for his life-saving actions. Roger also returned to the Glamorgan side during mid-August, although he wisely never fielded at short-leg again after his near-death experience.
This was one, and undoubtedly the worst, of several injuries to beset Glamorgan which saw them sink to 15th place in the Championship and, once again, enjoy a largely anonymous summer in one-day cricket. Roy Fredericks, the newly acquired batsman from the West Indies fractured a bone in his forearm in only the third Championship match of the summer, whilst both Tony Lewis and Peter Walker picked up niggling strains which handicapped them for much of the summer. Alan Jones still had a back ailment and was far from his best, whilst Don Shepherd had a relatively quiet season with a mere 70 wickets.
The end of June and early July saw three successive victories, over the Pakistanis at Swansea as well as both Oxford and Cambridge University. The 46-run victory over the tourists was set-up by some fine medium-pace bowling from Malcolm Nash plus a gutsy 88 from opener Kevin Lyons. The young batsman also posted a half-century in the win over the Oxford students at BP Llandarcy where Lawrence Williams produced a probing spell of seam bowling. The visit of Cambridge University, and Majid Khan to Ynysangharad Park saw the Pakistani score a pair of sublime fifties against his colleagues but the hostile pace of Tony Cordle proved too much for the undergraduates as Glamorgan won by four wickets.
Majid’s finest hour for Glamorgan during 1971 came in the final Sunday League game as the Welsh county visited Old Trafford to meet Lancashire who appeared to be on the verge of winning the 40-over competition. But the Pakistani helped to turn the tables on Lancashire in front of the BBC TV cameras plus a large and partisan crowd. Opening the batting with Fredericks, Majid made a composed 37 as Glamorgan ended on 143. It seemed a modest total but Nash removed the dangerous Farokh Engineer in his opening salvo, before Majid’s accurate medium-pace bowling accounted for three Lancashire men, all for just 13 runs. His tally included the prized scalp of West Indian Clive Lloyd and with Peter Walker plus the fit again Roger Davis filleting the lower order, Glamorgan ended Lancashire’s title bid by winning by 34 runs. After everything the team and Roger Davis, in particular, had gone through during 1971, it was a ray of sunshine in what had been a difficult 50th anniversary of gaining first-class status.