*Wilf Wooller (left) and Brian Close: Battle of attrition*

by Abhishek Mukherjee

Somerset had lost their previous match, against Essex, by nine wickets. Now, when were playing Glamorgan at Swansea, captain Brian Close was in no mood for an encore – and a dogged Close is the worst sort of Close that has ever been.

Amidst interruptions, Somerset finished Day 1 on 113/2. They did not bother to accelerate on the second morning, either. Or on the second afternoon lunch.

Watching all this was Glamorgan secretary Wilf Wooller. A maverick in his younger days, Wooller used to play rugby for Wales. At Cambridge he once stole the receiver of a telephone box, paid a £5 fine, and made it to the headlines.

He was taken PoW by the Japanese in the Second World War. He switched to cricket after the War, scoring over 13,000 runs and taking 958 wickets. He also played squash racquets for Wales, football for Cardiff City, and bowls for Cardiff AC.

It was unlikely that a man like that would put up with slow cricket, but Wooller took the matter a bit further: he decided that no one could – or should – enjoy something so disgusting.

So, at some point before tea (the score read 245 for 4), Wooller made an announcement – with little, or perhaps no, precedence – on the ground PA system: "If any spectator felt he was not getting value for money an application for a refund would be sympathetically considered."

But even this had no impact on Close. He did not declare. He got his hundred but did not declare. He fell for 108 but did not declare. That eventually happened on 314/7, an innings spanning 121 overs.

By then Close had already had his outburst, of which "bloody ridiculous" were among the better words.

As for the match, Glamorgan raced to 66 for no loss before losing 20 wickets in a heap. They were bowled out for 145 and 144 with over two sessions to spare.

Close was right, after all.

It happened on 12 June 1972