Double Headers

102 wicket-keepers (Jock Cameron and Edward van der Merwe). Despite his success against Border, Duminy was not included in the tour party, as his performances in the other games at Durban were nothing to write home about, though he later briefly joined the tour in England when a number of the tourists were ill or injured. Less surprisingly, Transvaal players dominated the Test XIs in England, with as many as six appearing in both the first and fifth Tests, and five in each of the other three matches. Their continuing strength was shown when they again won the Currie Cup in the following season of 1929/30. Now we move forward 17 years from the first South African double-header. In 1945/46 cricket was still emerging from wartime privations. There had been no Currie Cup cricket since 1937/38, and although it proved possible to draw up a substantial programme of first-class matches for the first season after the war – 18 games were arranged in all – it was decided that the Currie Cup should not be contested. Like the 1919 season in England, this was something of an experimental season, as the provincial sides sought to establish which of their pre-war players were still available and in form for the first-class game, and to identify the new talent that might stand them in good stead for the future. Thus Transvaal, for example, played eight matches but used as many as 35 different players, 14 of whom were making their first-class debuts. Their season began with two overlapping two-day (but nevertheless first-class 83 ) fixtures in mid-December 1945, against NE Transvaal at Johannesburg and against Natal at Durban. And thus we have the third first-class double- header in South African cricket history (fear not – we’ll come to the second one in a moment; but it was a bit different from the other two). As 17 years earlier, both games in 1945/46 ended in exactly the same result – but this time rather less excitingly so, as both were drawn. At Durban, a Transvaal side containing nine past or future Test cricketers was bowled out for 158, whereupon the opposing Natal side (with ‘only’ seven Test players) collapsed from 67-0 to 96 all out, with Norman Gordon and Xenophon Balaskas each taking five wickets; Natal’s opener Dennis Dyer carried his bat for 49*. Transvaal’s second innings reached 193, but in the 54 eight-ball overs remaining Natal did not chase the 256 needed for victory, and ended on 160-3 (Billy Wade 74*, the only half-century of the match). Meanwhile at Johannesburg a definitely second-string Transvaal side, with four first-class debutants, managed a small first-innings lead over their northern rivals (231 to 223), and then declared at 160-4 leaving NE Transvaal to get 169 for victory in what turned out to be 24 eight-ball overs. The challenge was declined as NE Transvaal fell to 14-3 and 45-4 before holding out for a draw on 127-6. Top score of the game was 83 by Richard Martin in NE Transvaal’s first innings, while no bowler took a five- for for either side. The remaining double-header in Phase 1 – chronologically the second of the three in this Phase – once again features Transvaal as the double- heading side, but unlike in the two other instances the matches concerned 83 These games pre-dated the ruling in 1947 that to qualify for first-class status matches had to be scheduled for a minimum of three days’ play. South Africa - Welcome to the triple-header