Cricket 1911

1 2 0 C R ICK ET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. M ay 6, 1911. E astern P ro v in c e . First innings. Sccond innings. 0. M. R. W. 0 . M. R. W. Cross ........... ... 25-3 5 65 4 ........... ........... 11 3 33 1 Hartigan........... ... 22 3 64 5 ........... ........... 15 1 55 4 Norton ........... ... 1 0 8 0 ................ Morrell ........... 0 0 13 0 ................ !" 7 1 8 1 Sprenger........... ... 4 0 23 0 ................ ................ 1 0 2 0 Cook .......... ... 8 0 85 0 ................ ........... 5 1 23 3 The Currie Cup dates from the tour of the first English Team in South Africa, twenty-two years ago. Sir Donald Currie sent it by Major Warton’s hands, to be presented to the South African centre making the best show against the team, and everyone was satisfied when Griqualand West (Kimberley, as it was usually called in those days, and might still be called, for any particular meaning the larger title has in a cricket sense) received the trophy. Kimberley had a very strong team at that time, including South Africa’s crack bat, A. B. Tancred, C. H. Vintcent, an old Carthusian and a fine all-round player, A. W. Seccull, a member of the first Afrikander team to England, Irvine Grimmer, a bowler with a tremendous break, P. G. Klinck and F. Smith, both excellent batsmen and the latter a good wicket-keeper also, and C. E. Einlason, batsman and bowler too. But the Rand had just begun to exert the drawing powers which have never deserted it, though in those early days it was not cricket reasons that drew the men to Jo’burg, as it is said to be nowadays. When Transvaal challenged for possession of the cup in 1889-90, Vintcent, Finlason, and J. Hickson, three prominent ex-members of the Kimberley side, were all found doing battle for the enemy, whose ranks also included the late M. P. Bowden and Mr. C. A. Smith—now a shining light of the dramatic world—who had stayed on in South Africa after the tour of Major Warton’s team. Bowden (63 and 126 not out) not only batted finely, but kept wicket in great style, and, going on to bowl, took the wickets of Tancred and Ruther- foord, who had put on well over a hundred runs in partner­ ship, in the course of three overs. Smith had eight wickets for 99 in the match. Vintcent made 60 not out in the Transvaal’s second, partnering Bowden in a great stand, and took five wickets for 119. Dulwich and Charterhouse may fairly be said to have won the first eleven-a-side match ever played by the State which has become so prominent since. Griqualand West regained the Cup in a memorable match played at Johannesburg in April, 1891. Pinlason had gone back to Kimberley, and poor Monty Bowden, who was then up-country waggon-driving—he died a few months later—and Aubrey Smith were lost to the Transvaal, who had, however, acquired Klinck and F. Smith from their rivals, A. E. Ochse from the Free State, and .T. H. Piton (a lob-bowler, who took thirteen wickets for 204 runs in this match) from Natal. The winners scored 255 (A. B. Tancred 8 9 ) and 475 (Finlason 154, not out, .7. Gyselman 87, Tancred 62) to the Transvaal’s 313 (C. Wimble 62) and 359 (A. E. Ochse 99), and thus won by 58 runs. There were twenty- four individual scores of over 20 in the match, which ran into seven days ; only two men were dismissed scoreless, and one of these made a century in his second innings ; the aggregate of runs was 1,402, a South African record; and £620 was taken in gate-money. At Kimberley, in November, 1892, during the S.A. and International Exhibition held there, the third contest took place. Western Province, helped by Frank Hearne and C. Mills, entered the lists for the first time, and proved victorious, beating both Transvaal and Griqualand West, while the last-named team also lost their game with the men from Johannesburg. Frank Hearne made a century against the Transvaal, and Godfrey Cripps, an old Chel- tonian, against the Kimberley men. E. A. Halliwell and J. H. Sinclair played for the Transvaal, and both did creditable work. The fourth contest was held at Cape Town, Easter, 1894, shortly before the departure of the First South African team for England. Five teams shared in it, Natal and the Eastern Province being the newcomers. Western Province stood out till the final round, and then beat Natal, who had previously beaten Griqualand West and the Transvaal, though the game with the Johannesburg men was won by only seven runs. This arrangement—the holders standing out till the final—was emphatically not a good one, and seems particularly absurd as the holders were the home team, who could easily have raised strong sides for more matches. Griqualand West had now dropped out of the running for supremacy, having lost their crack Tancred, as well as other good men, and they took no part in the tournament of 1894-5 in Natal, Eastern Province also failing to send a team. George Lohmann, as well as Hearne and Mills, played for Western Province, and it was expected that the Cape Town men would retain the cup. Transvaal (thanks largely to James Sinclair) beat Natal at Maritzburg by one wicket—a fair return for the seven runs’ defeat of a season earlier. Then at Durban, contrary to all expectations, they defeated the Province by 54 runs. Owing to the visit of Lord Hawke’s First Team, there was no tournament in 1895-6 ; but, at Easter in the 1896-7 season, the Western Province, Eastern Province, Griqua­ land West, and Natal teams all came up to Johannesburg. Transvaal stood out till the final, and then went down before Western Province (perhaps one should rather say before the deadly right arm of that great bowler, George Lohmann) by 71 runs. Murray Bisset, captain of the second South African team four years later, made a fine century in this game. In an earlier round Lieut. A. I. Paine made 220 for Western Province v. Griqualand West. Neither Eastern Province nor Griqualand West won a match, the latter going down before Western Province by an innings and 338 runs, and before Natal by eight wickets. Why the two luckless teams did not meet one another is rather a puzzle. Louis Tancred, who captained the Trans­ vaal in this season’s contest, and Lieut. E. L. Challenor, of Barbados and the Leicestershire Regiment, were among the players in this tournament. Cape Town was the venue in 1897-8, and five teams competed, the Border for the first time. Eastern Province were absent. Again the holders (Western Province this time) stood out till the final, when they met Transvaal, who had beaten Natal by 77 runs and Griqualand West in an innings, but had unexpectedly gone down before the Border. Western Province retained the cup, winning a small-scoring match by eight wickets. Lord Hawke’s Second Team came along in 1898-9, and after that was the War. The eighth tournament took place at Port Elizabeth in 1902-3. Natal could not send a team, and there were again five contestants, Eastern Province taking the place held by the Garden Colony in the last tournament. The Transvaal had now Frank Mitchell, Gordon White, Percy Sherwell, and J. J. Kotze (the Rand could not keep him long), as well as Louis Tancred, Sinclair, and other cracks in their ranks, and they fairly smashed up the opposition. Griqualand West went down by an innings and 216 runs —66 and 34 to 316 (Mitchell 102, Sherwell 71). Kotze had eleven wickets for 40 in the match, Sinclair six for 12 in the second innings. Eastern Province succumbed by ten wickets. White scored 54 not out, and Sinclair took thirteen wickets for 85. The Border lost by 305 runs. Mitchell scored 72 and 60 ; G. H. Shep- stone, an old Reptonian, took ten for 40 in the match, Kotze five for 20 in the second innings. Lastly, thanks chiefly to a magnificent 136 by James Sinclair, Western Province, standing out till the final, were beaten by seven wickets. Not until six years later did the Transvaal lose their grip on the Cup. In the Tournament of 1903-4, played on the knock-out principle, without any gathering of the clans at a centre, they beat Natal by an innings and 35 runs in the first round, W. A. Shalders (formerly of Kimberley) being top scorer with 93 ; and the Orange River Colony by an innings and 322 in the second, J. J. Slatem making 91, White 83, Mitchell 79, Schwarz 70, and C. J. E. Smith 64, while White had eleven wickets for 96. A total of 503 without a century included is rare indeed. Western Province, beating Griqualand West by only 48 runs, and the Border by an innings and 236, J. H. Anderson scoring 109, Sibley Snooke 84, qualified for the final at Johannesburg. But the home side carried too many guns for the Cape Town men. Louis Tancred played splendid cricket for 83 and 102 ; he was top scorer in each innings ; so, for the losers, with 36 and 53, was J. Pritchard, who has since