Fifty years ago this week, Glamorgan – under the captaincy of Tony Lewis – won the County Championship title. This is the first 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 in September 1969.
1969 – a proud year for all Welshmen, both at home and away. Prince Charles (now the Club’s Patron) was invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle, whilst the national rugby team won the Five Nations championship and Triple Crown. To add to the Celtic hwyl, Tony Lewis led Glamorgan to the Championship title as the Welsh county remained unbeaten - a feat not achieved since 1930 when Lancashire became county champions by not losing a game.
The Spring of 1969 had seen Wilf Wooller and Tony Lewis in a series of deep conversations as the Club’s secretary and captain devised a title-winning plan. The bonus points situation at the time favoured quick scoring in the first innings and with Alan Jones, Majid Khan and Tony himself, Glamorgan had some top-order batsmen with reputations as fast scorers. The bowling attack also covered all bases, with Malcolm Nash and Tony Cordle forming a probing new ball attack, plus the legendary off-cutter Don Shepherd, the Welsh county possessed the firepower to mount a serious challenge for the county title.
The key element was adopting a positive approach and, as the late Malcolm Nash recalled, “it was a logical development of the way we had started to play the season before. As well as scoring quickly, our discussions also included the strategy of declaring behind if necessary, and then being confident that we could bowl the opposition out second-time around and go for – and get – any target set.”
Previous campaigns had been dogged by injury but lady luck was on Glamorgan’s side as all of their regular eleven stayed free from injury. Without anyone called up to play for England, Tony Lewis was able to call upon a settled eleven, plus Ossie Wheatley, and the Cardiff pair of young all-rounder Kevin Lyons and leg-spinner David Lewis .
Another vital ingredient was Tony’s captaincy, and as Roger Davis remembers “As long as the players gave their best on the field, he encouraged them to enjoy themselves when at rest. Off the field, we laughed and laughed, and this enjoyment and vitality showed through in our play in the field. There was a willingness to take chances and our confidence that luck would favour the brave.”
Besides this esprit de corps, there were some similarities with the team that first lifted the Championship title in 1948, with an outstanding fielding unit close to the stumps. With Bryan Davis at first slip, Majid Khan at second, Roger Davis at short-leg, Peter Walker at backward short-leg and Eifion Jones behind the stumps, few chances were missed all summer.
There was an important difference as well in that 1969 saw the introduction of the John Player Sunday League following the success of televised matches played on Sundays in previous summer by the Rothman’s International Cavaliers. Whereas Wilf Wooller’s team of 1948 could rest their weary limbs, the squad of ’69 took part in a series of 40 overs games.
Despite their hectic schedule Glamorgan remained in the top three of the Championship throughout the summer and by the end of August Tony and his team knew that wins in two of their last three matches would secure the Championship. Like this summer’s remaining games, there was everything to play for in September as Glamorgan ended their 1969 campaign with matches against Essex at Swansea, Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens and Surrey at The Oval.
To be continued…