Famous Cricketers No 78 - Bruce Mitchell

134. Transvaal v North Eastern Transvaal, Ellis Park, Johannesburg, January 31, February 1, 3 (Transvaal won by an innings and 82 runs) b H.E.Patterson 47 442-8d 7 2 10 0 131 18 2 66 1 R.S.Martin c C.Levy 229 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Currie Cup 6 9 0 426 159 47.33 2 1 9 Career 134 218 23 8386 195 43.00 20 42 172 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Currie Cup (8b) 57.0 7 243 2 1/66 121.50 - - Career (6b) 1210.2 152 } 5694 230 6/33 24.75 15 2 (8b) 442.6 43 1947 – South Africa in England Mitchell’s third tour of England was his most successful. At the age of thirty-eight he made 2,014 runs at 61.03, the highest aggregate and best average of all the South African players. In fact his aggregate was the most scored by any South African on tour. He started badly making only 110 runs in his first eight innings but then had a run of four centuries in his next six innings. In the Test series he made 597 runs at 66.33 – his most successful – and was only just behind A.D.Nourse in aggregate and average. His ‘finest hour’ (to quote Winston Churchill) was the final Test at Kennington Oval where he made 120 and 189 not out and was on the field for the entire match bar the last eight minutes of the first innings (12 balls). During the game he surpassed H.W.Taylor’s record aggregate of 2,936 runs. Alan Melville is the only other South African batsman to make two hundreds in a Test match. As he had made 131 against Lancashire in the previous match he also had three successive centuries to his name. During the last Test match he and Lindsay Tuckett added 109 for the eighth wicket which remained a record against England until 1999/2000. He carried his bat for 103 out of 198 in the second innings against the MCC at Lord’s. For someone who had first toured England in 1929 he showed little signs of the passing years and, by subsequent displays, confounded an earlier suggestion that his eye was not so keen as before. Though never spectacularly attractive and often a slow scorer, he was seldom dull to watch, with a superb defence and beautiful off drives off the back foot. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 135. South Africans v Worcestershire, Worcester, April 30, May 1, 2 (Worcestershire won by 39 runs) b R.T.D.Perks 3 167 202 c P.F.Jackson b R.Howorth 9 107 111 136. South Africans v Leicestershire, Grace Road, Leicester, May 3, 5 (South Africans won by ten wickets) st P.Corrall b G.Lester 25 216 128 1 not out 29 35-0 121 1 137. South Africans v Surrey, Kennington Oval, May 10, 12, 13 (South Africans won by 115 runs) c A.V.Bedser b E.A.Watts 18 83 112 b E.A.Watts 6 311 167 138. South Africans v Hampshire, Southampton, May 14, 15, 16 (Match drawn) lbw b C.J.Knott 11 315 2 0 19 0 300-6d 1 - - - - 79-7 139. South Africans v MCC, Lord’s, May 17, 19, 20 (MCC won by 158 runs) lbw b A.W.H.Mallett 9 127 230 1 not out 103 198 253-4d 140. South Africans v Oxford University, The Parks, May 21, 22, (23) (Match drawn) c B.H.Travers b H.B.Robinson 72 510-6d 303-9d 19-2 141. South Africans v Glamorgan, Cardiff, May 24, 26, 27 (South Africans won by an innings and 131 runs) c C.Tamplin b A.Porter 113 479-8d 128 1 220 1 22