Fifty years ago today, Glamorgan – under the captaincy of Tony Lewis – secured a famous 147-run victory over Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens to secure the County Championship title. This is the third and final of three special articles (written by Andrew Hignell) to appear on the Club’s website this week celebrating the achievements of Tony and his team during September 1969
The thrilling one-run victory against Essex at Swansea meant that Glamorgan only needed one more win to lift the county title. The following day (September 3rd), they began their match with Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens in front of another large crowd, as well as the BBC crew, with everyone present at the Cardiff ground and those Welsh men and women watching on TV, willing on Tony Lewis and his team to round off a fantastic summer by clinching the title on home soil.
They duly witnessed the innings of the summer as Majid Khan defied the Worcestershire bowlers and the capricious nature of the pitch at Sophia Gardens to which Glamorgan had moved from the Arms Park in 1967. With inconsistent bounce, batting at the ground back in 1969 could be a difficult proposition and the first two seasons of Championship matches at Sophia Gardens had seen some low-scoring contests. There were still a few terrors in the pitch (and the minds of the batsmen) in 1969, but not so on this occasion for Majid Khan. Whereas his colleagues struggled against Vanburn Holder, the West Indian fast-medium bowler plus the wily spin of Norman Gifford, the Pakistani unfurled a series a series of silky smooth drives and deft strokes square of the wicket.
He had arrived in the middle after Roger Davis had been struck a painful blow on the elbow from Holder and was forced to retire hurt. Early in his innings, Majid was also hit on the shoulder by a steeply rising delivery from the Bajan which prompted Alan Jones to walk down the wicket to check on the Pakistani. “Majid, are you alright? I thought it had struck you on the head,” enquired the great left-hander, to which Majid calmly replied, “Alan, of course I am fine. Don’t worry!” Alan returned to the non-strikers end and made a rather scratchy 45 whilst Majid remained unruffled and made an imperious 156 out of Glamorgan’s total of 265.
Despite the presence of Ron Headley, another West Indian great plus England legend Tom Graveney in the visitors batting ranks, none could match the Pakistani’s efforts as Malcolm Nash, Ossie Wheatley and Don Shepherd helped Glamorgan to secure an 82-run lead. As so often in the summer, Tony Lewis then told his batsmen to go for quick runs with Peter Walker making an assertive 63 and Eifion Jones a breezy 39 before felled by a rising delivery from Holder. The doughty wicket-keeper was carried in a dazed state to the changing rooms where the medics advised rest. Despite still feeling giddy, Eifion duly sat on the pavilion balcony with Majid taking over behind the stumps as Tony Lewis challenged Worcestershire to score 255 on the unpredictable surface.
Nash and Cordle made early inroads before ‘Shep’ steadily worked his way through the visitors middle and lower order, starting with the wicket of Jim Yardley – his 2,000th victim in first-class cricket. However, it was his 2,003rd which made him proudest as Brian Brain was caught at slip off bat and box by Bryan Davis as Glamorgan won by 147 runs to become the County Champions. As an ecstatic crowd ran onto the outfield to engulf their heroes, Don and Tony hugged each other in delight at their achievement. The team duly gathered on the balcony of the Sophia Gardens pavilion to share in the crowd’s celebrations before toasting their success long into the night in the small bar of what at the time was the home of the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club. Welsh melodies rang out across a now deserted outfield, augmented by some lilting Caribbean calypso’s from Tony Cordle and Bryan Davis.
Fittingly, this short series concludes with the words of the victorious captain Tony Lewis - “Don and I walking off together that afternoon in September 1969 was one of my proudest moments in a Glamorgan sweater. We had hit near perfection – his caution, control and devoted professionalism and my own musketeer instincts with a team of many skills and adaptability, and all without too many egos getting in the way of an overall design which called for unselfishness.”