There is a long tradition of Welsh players who were good at both sports, with the remarkable Maurice Turnbull leading the way. He added nine appearances for England, becoming the first Glamorgan player to play Test cricket, to two Welsh rugby caps and three Welsh hockey internationals.
He captained Cambridge University in 1929, and Glamorgan from 1930 until 1939, and was one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year in 1931. He passed 1000 runs in a season 10 times and scored three double-centuries, the highest being 233 against Worcestershire at Swansea in 1937.
His England tests were against the West Indies and India at home, and he toured Australia and New Zealand in 1929-30 and South Africa in 1930-31.
He was secretary at Glamorgan for a decade, become an English selector in 1938 and 1939 and ended his career with 17,544 first-class runs in 388 matches, including 29 centuries and 82 50s.
In any Welsh rugby cricket XI he has to be the first man on the team sheet and the capt
Maurice Turnbull
ain. Helping him on the captaincy front would be Wilf Wooller, another brilliant all-round sportsman who led Glamorgan to their first County Championship title in 1948, and who was in the Welsh team at Twickenham with Turnbull to share in the first victory there in 1933.
A pugnacious all-rounder, fearless fielder and tough-as-teak ‘skipper’, over the course of 24 years with Glamorgan Wooller scored 13,593 runs (average 22.57), took 958 wickets (average 29.96) and held 412 catches.
Like Turnbull, he was a Test selector from 1955 to 1961 and served Glamorgan as their secretary for 30 years and President for a further six. Not a bad duo to pencil in at the top of the team list.
TOP ORDER BATTING LINE-UP
The batting line-up for our Fantasy Welsh Rugby XI looks to be strong, with the former Cardiff full back Billy Spiller holding the distinction of scoring the first County Championship by a Glamorgan player in 1921. A Grand Slammer in 1911, he had played Minor Counties matches for the Welsh county between 1905-08 and then turned out for them in their first season as a fully fledged first-class county.
His landmark century came in Northampton and he played in 13 matches over two summers when he was able to get time off from his job with South Wales Police. He faced the 1921 Australian tourists in Cardiff, was awarded his Glamorgan cap in 1923 and was recognised as one of the best Welsh-born batsmen either side of WWI.
Willie Jones may not have won a full international cap, but he played for Wales in a War-Time international and was an excellent outside half for Llanelli, Neath and Gloucester. On that basis he can be included and, with 340 matches for Glamorgan between 1937-58, he will considerably strengthen the batting.
Willie Jones
He topped 1,000 runs seven times and scored 1,656 at an average of 42.26 in Glamorgan’s championship winning campaign in 1948. It was that summer he notched his highest score, an unbeaten 212 against Essex in Brentwood.
He was given a Test trial in 1949 and, just as an England call-up looked likely, he suffered an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the summer. His left-arm spin bowling was also very useful, and he delivered 47 wickets in the unforgettable summer of 1948.
He helped Glamorgan beat New Zealand under Turnbull’s captaincy in 1937, scored a century against the West Indies in 1950 and was in the side that beat South Africa in 1951. He played 16 times against the major touring teams.
Another big run scorer for Glamorgan, with 7,681 runs in 216 first-class matches between 1955-68, was the former Maesteg outside half Alan Rees, who won three caps in 1962 before turning to rugby league with Leeds. He actually got onto the field in a couple of Test matches as 12th man and was recognised as one of the best cover point fielders of his day.
He passed 1,000 runs in a season four times and hit a career high 111 not out against Lancashire in Cardiff in his golden summer of 1964. He scored both of his championship centuries that year as he notched 1,206 to finish with an average of 30.15.
He made 14 appearances against touring teams and played in two historic wins over Australia in 1964 and 1968. In both games he made significant contributions, hitting 48 and 47 in the first and an unbeaten 33 in the latter.
OPENING THE ATTACK
If Jones and Rees team up to open the innings, the big question is who will lead the attack? Here we can come a bit more up to date with two current Welsh internationals.
Jake Ball at the WACA
Jake Ball was a cricketer before he was a rugby player and used to terrorise batsmen in Perth bowling at 82 mph. He was in the Western Australia cricket academy and played alongside future Aussie test all-rounder Mitch Marsh in the national U19 competition.
He was coached by Geoff Marsh, the former Test player and father to Mitch, presented with his U19 cap by Dennis Lillee and looked set to go a long way in the game had he not switched to rugby. He picked up 10 wickets at an average of 20.3 across seven matches in the National Under 19 competition.
His Scarlets team mate Aaron Shingler was also a hugely promising cricketer before he opted for rugby. He spent two years on the Glamorgan staff after coming through their academy and playing for the Cardiff University High Performance team.
He played with Mooen Ali for England U19 against Bangladesh and, as a fast opening bowler, also played for the Wales Minor Counties team.
Matthew Robinson
Backing them up in the pace stakes could be the former Swansea wing Matthew Robinson, who was on the books at Somerset and Warwickshire as a fast-medium bowler who could also bat a bit. He also spent one summer playing in Jamaica.
He played for Herefordshire and was good enough to play for Minor Counties in the Benson & Hedges Cup against Lancashire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire in 1996. He also played in one game in the Nat West tournament for Herefordshire.
His Minor Counties debut for Herefordshire came in 1992, when he scored an unbeaten 74 to help beat Wales Minor Counties. He played 17 times in the Minor Counties Championship.
He featured in 2nd XI matches for Somerset, Warwickshire and Glamorgan. He played for England U19 and in 1996 played a vital role in helping Walsall win the Abbot Ale Cup National Club Cricket title at Lord’s.
Going back in time, all the way back to Wales’ first international team in 1881 in fact, Edward Peake was renowned as a fast bowler. He had been captain of cricket at Marlborough College and then went up to Oxford, where he won Blues in athletics and cricket.
He played against Cambridge at Lord’s three times, twice taking five wickets in an innings in one game, and went on to play in 46 first-class cricket matches between 1880-89. Half of them came for Gloucestershire.
He played against the 1882 Australians three times for Oxford and Gloucestershire and was alongside WG Grace in the 1888 Gloucestershire side that beat the touring Aussies twice in 1888. He also played Minor Counties for Berkshire.
Another Oxford man, Charles Lewis, was a fast, round arm bowler who became one of the early cricket stars in south Wales. He won rugby and athletics Blues as well as playing in the 1876 Varsity Match at Lord’s. He took four wickets in the first innings against Cambridge, but still ended up on the losing side.
He took five Australian wickets for South Wales against the tourists in 1878 and showed off his batting prowess with 50 runs for MCC at Lord’s in a win over Glamorgan. He played Minor Counties cricket for Carmarthenshire, led Llandovery College to victory in the 1881 cricket version of the South Wales Challenge Cup and was invited to join Lord Hawke’s tour to Australia, New Zealand and the USA in 1878, but had to decline due to his commitments as a schoolteacher.
BEHIND THE STICKS
The selection of a wicket keeper is tricky, with some very worthy candidates. Jack Bancroft, a Grand Slam full back in 1908 and 1911, was very agile behind the sticks for Swansea and Glamorgan.
He played Minor Counties in 1908 and was then recalled when Glamorgan got full first-class status and joined the County Championship, making nine appearances in their second season in 1922 at the age of 43.
George Llewellyn Lloyd played for 16 times for Monmouthshire in Minor Counties between 1897-1903. He captained Newport in 1899-1901, doubling up as captain of the rugby team at the same time, and was renowned as a steady bat and a good wicket keeper during the summer months.
Vivian Jenkins.
Then there is Viv Jenkins, the 1938 British & Irish Lions full back who helped Wales to beat New Zealand in 1935.
He was an Oxford cricket Blue in 1933 and made 44 appearances for Glamorgan.
Included in those matches for the Welsh country were games against New Zealanders, India, the West Indies and Australia. He top scored in both innings against the Aussies, with 33 and 40.
Billy Geen played 13 Minor Counties matches for Monmouthshire as a very handy wicket keeper between 1909-12. He spent four years in the Haileybury College 1 XI, and also played for Newport, and won three caps before becoming a casualty in WWI.
OTHER CANDIDATES
Another outstanding candidate for immediate selection is one of the greatest Welsh players of all-time, Billy Bancroft. The Swansea full back made 33 consecutive appearances for his country, played in the first Welsh Triple Crown team in 1893, captained them to their second success in 1899 and raised the world points record to 60.
Billy Bancroft
Around his rugby he was also a hugely influential cricketer who made 162 Minor Counties appearances for Glamorgan between 1896-1914 as their first regular professional player. He was in the side that won the Minor Counties title in 1900 and played for Glamorgan against the South Africans in 1901, scoring a half-century in his first innings, and also for South Wales in 1912.
He also played for South Wales against Australia (1901, 1909), West Indies (1906) and in the win over India (1911). He went on to become a great coach, steering Gilbert Parkhouse to England honours.
From the same era, two of his Welsh team mates in 1891, Hugh Ingledew and Ralph Sweet-Escott played with him for Glamorgan. Ingledew opened the innings for Glamorgan with Bancroft against the MCC at St Helen’s in 1891 and Sweet-Escott played Minor Counties with Glamorgan between 1891-99 and played against South Africa in 1894.
The Biggs brothers, Selwyn and Norman, were also good cricketers. Norman Biggs played for Glamorgan against Cardiff in 1893, while the nine-times capped Selwyn made 30 appearances. He took 8-48 against MCC in Cardiff in 1896 and hit an unbeaten 47 against the same side on his debut in 1891.
Cardiff back row man CD Williams played one first-class match for Oxford University against Gloucestershire in 1946 and went on to make four appearances for Berkshire and three for Glamorgan 2nd XI in the Minor Counties competition. He was a strong lower-order batsman who also played for St Fagan’s.
Barney McCall, who won three caps on the wing for Wales in the Thirties, played cricket for the Army and Combined Services as a top order batsman and change bowler. He scored a century (126) for Dorset in a Minor Counties match against Devon, played for the Minor Counties and also featured in Army matches against the Royal Navy and the Public Schools XI at Lord’s.
MONMOUTHSHIRE LINKS
That first Welsh Triple Crown side in 1893 contained a number of fine cricketers. Arthur Gould played for Newport and Monmouthshire and was a great cover point and hard hitter.
Arthur Boucher played eight times for Monmouthshire in Minor Counties and took seven wickets against Glamorgan in one innings on debut.
Arthur Boucher
Tom Graham played 11 games in the Minor Counties for Monmouthshire and was renowned as a vigorous hitter and a fast bowler at Newport.
The Rodney Parade trio are among many players who featured for Monmouthshire during their days playing in the Minor Counties competition.
George Harding played in three Minor Counties matches and was a prolific batsman. He once put on an opening stand of 193 for Newport with Bob Gould, another international who played for Monmouthshire.
Frank Purdon played for Monmouthshire, the South Wales Cricket Club and Newport, while Reg Plummer was a consistent performer with the bat for Newport who played once for Monmouthshire in 1911.
MORE GLAMORGAN LINKS
A month after announcing his arrival on the world rugby stage with a record equalling 19 points against England at the Arms Park, Keith Jarrett was back in international action in the Welsh capital making the first of his two first-class appearances for Glamorgan.
Having seen off England almost single-handedly, the teenage batsman from Monmouth School played against India at Sophia Gardens. Later in the same summer he faced the other tourists, Pakistan.
He had played for the Welsh Schools against England in 1965 and made seven appearances for the Glamorgan 2nd XI in 1967. Included among them was a win over an International Cavaliers side containing Geoff Boycott and Gary Sobers.
William Gwynn, the Swansea half-back who won five caps in 1884-85, played two matches for Glamorgan in 1890. He went on to become the first paid secretary of the WRU and served on the Glamorgan committee from 1888-95.
Reggie Gibbs racked up 33 appearances for Glamorgan between 1902-14, top scoring with 95 against Monmouthshire in 1913, while fellow British & Irish Lion Teddy Morgan made three appearances. Another former international from Cardiff, George Young, played three times in 1892-93 and scored 61 runs at Lord’s against MCC.
Two more British & Irish Lions also appeared in Glamorgan teams. Percy Bush, made three Minor Counties appearances between 1900-03, and scored 60 for MCC against Monmouthshire, while Keith Jarrett played against both India and Pakistan a few months after scoring 19 points on his Welsh rugby debut against England in 1967.
Wales wing Ronnie Boon played 11 games in 1931 and 1932, while one of the men who captained him on the rugby field, Cambridge University rugby Blue Guy Morgan, racked up 49 first-class appearances, including 38 Championship games.
Morgan scored 55 for Wales against the MCC at Lord’s in a drawn game in 1929 and played against South Africa, West Indies, India and New Zealand for Glamorgan and Cambridge
Tom Barlow, who won one cap at full back in 1884, played cricket for Cardiff, the South Wales club and in 11 matches for Glamorgan. His debut was at Lord’s against the MCC in 1894, but his best score came against Herefordshire the following year.
He was on the Glamorgan committee for 17 years and their treasurer for a decade. He was also a founder member of the Glamorganshire and Royal Porthcawl Golf Clubs, became Welsh Amateur champion in 1900, treasurer of the Welsh Golfing Union for 24 years and their secretary for 16 years.
WELSH CRICKET CAPS
As well as Turnbull and Morgan, the former Aberavon and British & Irish Lions outside half John Bevan and the Pontypridd flanker Geraint Lewis both played for Wales at cricket. Bevan, who captained Neath during the summer, opened the innings for Wales against Denmark and Ireland in the Eighties.
Lewis was a right handed batsman who occasionally bowled slow left-arm. He played four times for the Wales Minor Counties team in 1994-95 having graduated into the senior set-up from Wales Schools U18.
He played for two summers and scored 136 against Ireland to set-up a victory in Dublin and then 88 in a win over Scotland. He played for Glamorgan Young Cricketers as well before concentrating on his rugby.
CARMARTHENSHIRE CANDIDATES
The former Llanelli captain Cliff Bowen, won four caps for Wales at rugby and played six Minor Counties games for Carmarthenshire and Harry Watkins played twice matches for Carmarthenshire in the Minor Counties competition.
Rowley Thomas, one of the founding fathers of London Welsh RFC who won seven caps between 1889-1990, played seven times for Carmarthenshire in Minor Counties cricket at the age of 42 in 1908. He had been in the Llandovery College 1st XI with fellow Welsh international Willie Thomas and Edward Alexander in 1883.
AND FINALLY . . .
As if there aren’t enough headaches in selection, Haydn Davies, Gerwyn Williams and Robert Jones all played for the Welsh Schools U18 team and Rob Howley was a strong batsmen with Wales at U15.
WELSH RUGBY FANTASY CRICKET XI
Willie Jones
Alan Rees
* Maurice Turnbull
Guy Morgan
+ Viv Jenkins
Billy Bancroft
Wilf Wooller
Matthew Robinson
Charles Lewis
Aaron Shingler
Jake Ball
12th Man: Billy Spiller
