Johnnie Clay
by Abhishek Mukherjee
Pataudi Sr had rested himself for India's tour match against Glamorgan. Merchant, leading them for the match, declared with India's score on 376/6. Glamorgan crawled to 149/8 when Chandu Sarwate bowled Haydn Davies. They needed another 78 to avoid the follow-on.
Peter Judge, a former Bengal cricketer and a rank No. 11, now joined his captain Johnnie Clay. He was bowled first ball, and Merchant enforced follow-on. But, to the confusion of the spectators, nobody left the ground.
What happened was this. Glamorgan could not win the match, but the Indians could. So the only way to keep the paying crowd interested till the end was to allow the Indians as much time as possible, and there was only one way to do that.
In other words, Clay was prepared to lose the match as long as the crowd got some quality entertainment.
Exactly when Clay and Merchant had the discussion is not clear. It might have been earlier, or when the last wicket fell. What we do know, however, is that the match continued without a mid-innings break (the umpires had obviously agreed), and Clay and Judge opened. It probably took less time for the match to resume than it took you to read this paragraph.
And thus, the crowd witnessed Sarwate bowl two consecutive balls to Judge – on either side of a wicket. Judge was bowled second ball. His two-minute pair is the fastest recorded in First-Class history.
Glamorgan finished on 73/7.
This happened on 11 June 1946. The picture is Clay's.