Jack Mercer (cricketer)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Mercer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 22 April 1893 Southwick, Sussex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 31 August 1987 (aged 94) Westminster, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1947 | Northamptonshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1926/27 | Marylebone Cricket Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1923–1930 | Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1922–1939 | Glamorgan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1919–1921 | Sussex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 27 June 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Mercer (22 April 1893 – 31 August 1987) was the main
".Career
Beginnings
Mercer was born in Southwick, West Sussex, and began his cricket with Sussex after World War I in 1919. He found he had very little opportunity because Sussex had so many medium-pace bowlers of similar type on their professional staff, notably Maurice Tate and the Relf brothers. Mercer got a bit of bowling in 1920 but his lack of opportunities in 1921 led him to qualify for the newly promoted first-class county Glamorgan.
100 Wickets
He started slowly, but by 1925 – when Glamorgan's utterly abysmal batting caused them to suffer a record number of defeats in the Championship – he was a well-established bowler and took over 100 wickets for the first time.
Awards
The
Touring
Mercer then went on tours of
1929-1937
In this season, he claimed a personal best 145 wickets, but strains in his thigh caused a gradual decline during the early 1930s and Mercer did not even take 50 wickets in 1934. However, 1935 and 1936 saw him back at his very best, with the latter season seeing him take all ten wickets in an innings at New Road, Worcester and twelve wickets for 123 against Leicestershire. He finished the season with 116 wickets when no other Glamorgan bowler exceeded 46, but in 1937 he lost so much form that he was in and out of the team. Ordinarily, Glamorgan would have ended Mercer's contract, but the erratic availability of their best bowlers meant he stayed with them for another two years, during which he produced his famous hitting spree against Worcestershire at Cardiff when Glamorgan were faced with certain defeat (the weather saved them).
1939 onwards
During 1939, Glamorgan announced Mercer would not be retained for 1940, but war brought an end to county cricket until 1946. Mercer then took up an appointment as coach of Northamptonshire, and even played one match for them at the extraordinary age of fifty-four. Mercer's vitality was shown by the fact that he lived to the age of ninety-four, dying in Westminster in 1987.
References
- S Canynge Caple (compiler). "Mercer, (John)". The Cricketers' Who's Who. Lincoln Williams (Publishers) Ltd. Adam Street, Adelphi, London. 1934. Pages 112 and 113.
External links
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