19 Feb 2016 | Cricket
Jim Pleass, the last surviving member of Glamorgan's Championship-winning team of 1948, died in Cardiff on February 16th at the age of 92.
Born in Cardiff in May 1923, Jim showed great prowess as a schoolboy footballer and cricketer. His prowess with the round ball saw him have trials with Cardiff City, but it was as a cricketer that he went on to become a professional sportsman. In 1948 he wrote his name in to the Club's annals by becoming a member of the Glamorgan side which by defeating Hampshire at Bournemouth secured the Welsh county's first-ever County Championship title.
For Jim, the delight in being a member of the first Glamorgan team to bring the county crown to Wales came four years after he had faced a massive test of his own fortitude and strength of character, as the callow twenty-one year old was one of the many thousands of brave men on board the massive flotilla of vessels of all shapes and sizes which took part in the Normandy Landings in June 1944.
During his journey across the Channel, the landing craft he was manning narrowly avoided a German mine. Another vessel was less fortunate and Jim and his colleagues watched in horror as the other craft was blown up, killing all of its unfortunate occupants. After landing at the beach-head, Jim began his work as a wireless operator and after witnessing all of these horrors in Northern France, it was with sheer joy and pride that four years later he went to battle on the cricket fields of England under the direction of the fearless Wilf Wooller, another man whose wartime experiences had transformed a happy-go-lucky amateur into a hard-nosed and tough cricketer.
It was under this particular Field Marshall that Jim - by nature a quiet and self-effacing character - blossomed and became an integral part of the Glamorgan side of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides the match at Bournemouth in 1948, another of his career highlights was appearing in the Glamorgan side which defeated the 1951 South Africans at Swansea, with Jim sharing in what proved to be a match-winning stand with Wilf.
Jim's sharp and alert fielding won rich praise from opposing teams, and he featured in the Welsh county's leg-trap which snaffled so many catches as the spin of Len Muncer and Jim McConnon posed problems for visiting batsmen. His safe pair of hands, allied to his steady batting, saw Jim remain in the Glamorgan side until 1955, by which time he had also achieved the notable distinction of scoring a maiden century at Harrogate as the Welsh county secured their first-ever victory on Yorkshire soil.
After retiring from county cricket, Jim played for a while for Cardiff CC whilst developing a career as an insurance broker. He retained an interest in Glamorgan CCC, serving as a committee member from the mid-1960s, and also acting as a match manager during games in the 1970s when one-day cricket was added to the Club's playing calendar. During the late 1980s he also played a key role in the creation of the Glamorgan Former Players Association, and until suffering ill health in the past couple of years, Jim was a regular face at the Association's annual gatherings.
On hearing of Jim's death, Hugh Morris, Glamorgan's Chief Executive Officer paid the following tribute to the former batsman - Jim was a true gentleman and a lovely man who, even over sixty years after being part of that famous team which lifted the county title in 1948, still spoke with such passion and immense pride of being part of Glamorgan's first-ever Championship-winning team.
Jim embodied all that is good about the Club and the warmth of the memories he fondly shared, as a committee member and energetic secretary of the Glamorgan Former Players Association, helped to inspire me - and many others - when I was on the county's playing staff during the 1980s and 1990s. We send our condolences to Jim's family and his many friends.