Len Muncer

Who was Len Muncer?

Bernard Leonard Muncer, born at Hampstead on 23 October 1913 and died at Camden Town on 18 January 1982, was a cricketer who played for Middlesex and Glamorgan.

Muncer was a useful middle or later order right-handed batsman and a spin bowler who began by bowling occasional leg breaks and googlies for Middlesex in the 1930s but converted to off-spin when he changed counties to Glamorgan.

Muncer's first-class cricket career divides into two almost exact halves. For eight seasons with Middlesex, starting in 1933, he was regarded as a batsman who bowled infrequently, and though he played regularly in 1934 and 1935, he was a fringe first eleven player for his remaining seasons with the county. In eight seasons, he made only just over 2000 runs and took 23 wickets. The eight seasons were divided by the Second World War, in which he was a prisoner of war in the Far East and worked on the Burma-Siam railway.

But recruited by Glamorgan captain Wilf Wooller on special registration in 1947 and converted to off-spin, Muncer proved both a reliable batsman and a penetrative bowler.