The First Welsh Hundred
Andrew Hignell on Edward Brewer
The first record of a cricket match taking place in South Wales is contained in a letter written in 1783 by a gentleman called Richard Jones, of Cross Inn. In his letter, Jones invites John Phillips of Cwmgwili House to assemble an XI to a contest on a pitch at Court Henry Down, close to the road from Carmarthen to Llandeilo. Little is known about the outcome of this challenge, or about the many other contests that cricket clubs arranged in the late 18th century and early 19th century. The lack of scorebooks and club records, and the paucity of newspaper reports, means that it is very difficult to say with absolute certainty when the first Welsh hundred was recorded. Using what archive material has been researched, it would appear that it wasn’t until the summer of 1844 that the first century was registered, by Edward Brewer of the Newport club.
Perhaps in the future, a conscientious researcher will unearth an earlier hundred, but it may not have been much before 1844, given the references in the newspaper reports to the poor state of the early pitches. During the early 19th century, matches were played on any decent area of open space or flat land. Consequently, the pitches were rough and poorly prepared, whilst the outfields were often covered by lush grass. Batting must have been mentally exhausting and physically dangerous. Team totals below 50 were commonplace, individual fifties a notable exception.
By the 1830s, the quality of the pitches had begun to improve. The properly organised clubs started to prepare pitches, using money from membership subscriptions and cash from wealthy patrons. A few kind benefactors also helped secure the services of a professional, who besides tending the pitch, helped to coach the members. For all of these reasons, the standards of batsmanship improved, and the totals and scores rose in the games played by the leading town clubs such as Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, as well as the gentlemen’s teams such as the Monmouthshire club based at the Beaufort Arms in Raglan. Indeed, in 1836 one of their batsmen, Needham, made 82* against Pontypool. Had he received a little more support from his colleagues, his name would have gone down in the annals of Welsh cricket as the first centurion.
Instead it was Edward Brewer, a leading member of the business world in Newport, who scored the first Welsh hundred, making 118 for Newport in their prestigious fixture against the Officers of the 73rd Regiment. His efforts helped the club to a victory by an innings and 33 runs. The Monmouthshire Merlin wrote how “the éclat which Newport obtained is mainly attributable to Mr E. Brewer’s play, as that gentleman scored the extraordinary number of 118 runs off his own bat.”
As the standards rose into the 1850s, and the number of clubs multiplied dramatically, several county XIs were assembled by leading members of the South Wales gentry to play exhibition games. These teams were not fully representative, drawn instead from leading figures in the social world, and supplemented by prominent club players. Even so, the first hundred for a Glamorgan XI was recorded by the Rev W.J. Price in the two-day game against Gloucester CC on 29 and 30 July, 1867. Price was a member of an XI assembled by C. Page Wood, a leading member of Cardiff CC and Cowbridge CC. Price hailed from Crickhowell, and after graduating in theology from Jesus College, Oxford, moved away from South Wales to become Curate of Shelton, Mirfield and St.Peter, Wolverhampton. He later became Vicar of Lilleshall.
In 1869 a fully fledged county club was formed. In June 1871 William Bennett became the first Glamorganshire batsman to reach 100 on Welsh soil. The Cardiff shop owner made an unbeaten 117 as Glamorgan defeated Monmouthshire by 130 runs on 11 and 12 June at Cardiff Arms Park. Bennett later became the Secretary of Cardiff CC and took up a similar office for the Glamorganshire club before it was dissolved during the 1870s.
In 1888, Glamorgan CCC was formed. The first hundred to be recorded for the present county club came from the bat of Penarth’s Herbie Morgan. The 19-year-old farmer hit 147 against Monmouthshire at the Arms Park, hitting 4 sixes and 15 fours before being run out, as Glamorgan amassed a mammoth 420. Remarkably, Morgan was only a late replacement, having been called up to bat at number seven the night before the game when Cardiff’s Daniel Jones became unable to secure time off to play in the game.
Until 1920, Glamorgan CCC played in the Minor County Championship. In 1921 they were given first-class status. The first Championship century came on 26 July, when Billy Spiller, the former Welsh rugby international, hit 104 in the match at Northampton. Spiller played his club cricket for Cardiff and Barry. His feats against Northamptonshire were even more remarkable given that the 35-year-old policeman had not played for the county since their Minor County days back in 1908. However, following Glamorgan’s elevation into the First-class world, he was able to secure leave of absence from the South Wales Constabulary.
This review of the first hundreds in Welsh cricket would not be complete without finishing with a mention of the first centuries in limited-overs competitions. The very first occurred on 22 May 1963, when Bernard Hedges hit an unbeaten 103 against Somerset at the Arms Park in Glamorgan’s inaugural Gillette Cup match. In 1976 Malcolm Nash recorded Glamorgan’s first hundred in the Benson and Hedges Cup, with 103* against Hampshire at Swansea. Two years later Alan Jones hit 110* against Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens to become the club’s first centurion in the Sunday League.
This article first appeared in The Cricket Statistician for Winter 1997. To join the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, and subscribe to the journal, please visit our website: