stand of 203 with Joe Hills for the ninth wicket is still the club record. John Arlott thought Clay was the best off-spin bowler in England: "Some others, perhaps, spun the ball harder – though not markedly so – but no-one until Laker of a later generation combined his degree of spin and such accuracy, subtlety, and variety of flight." After cricket Clay was a Test selector in 1947 and 1948. He contributed an annual essay to the Glamorgan County Cricket Club Yearbook from 1933 to 1950. On the basis of these essays, John Arlott declared that Clay was his favourite cricket writer. He served as President of Glamorgan from 1961 until his death in 1973. He died at St Hilary, near Cowbridge, Glamorgan. Outside cricket he had various business interests which often prevented him from playing cricket, which he always played as an amateur. He was a keen fan of horse-racing and was the owner of several long-distance steeplechasers. He served as secretary of the Glamorgan Hunt, and steward and director of Chepstow Racecourse, which had been laid out in the grounds of his family home at Piercefield Park in the 1920s. A long-distance steeplechase is held there annually in his memory. References External links Clay, John Charles at Dictionary of Welsh Biography Family Tree Brief profile of Johnnie Clay by Dr A. K. Hignell 1898 births 1973 deaths People from Cowbridge Cricketers from the Vale of Glamorgan People educated at Winchester College England Test cricketers Welsh cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Glamorgan cricket captains Wales cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers England cricket team selectors Gentlemen of England cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Cricket historians and writers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Artillery officers