Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

83 give England the edge, but among the quicker men, with the days of Trueman and Statham deemed to be over, there were just eight Test caps between John Price, who had toured India, and Tom Cartwright, a Test debutant the previous summer; while 35-year-old Ian Thomson, a full two years older than Trueman, and 22-year-old David Brown were still uncapped. Like Brown, leg spinner Robin Hobbs and spare batsman Mike Brearley were ostensibly making the trip with an eye to the future rather than in the expectation of being plunged into the cauldron of Test cricket. ‘Now, you pick your best side,’ says Mike, ‘John Edrich was very unlucky not to go.’ The tour began in what was still Rhodesia with a ten-wicket win in a two-day match against Matabeleland at Bulawayo. Rhodesia were then beaten by five wickets at Salisbury, but there was a close call in a drawn match when Dexter captained at Benoni, MCC ending 51 runs behind with only two wickets intact against a South African Colts Eleven, for whom a little-known 19-year- old, Barry Richards, made 63. A century stand for the Colts’ last wicket gave them an advantage they never surrendered despite the handicap of competing on the final day with half their side unfit to take the field. Against Transvaal, one of the weaker provincial sides, there were hundreds for Mike and Barrington in an impressive innings victory. On they went to Durban, where a Natal team with no fewer than nine men who had played for South Africa, or would go on to do so, was beaten by ten wickets. Thomson, a surprise replacement for the originally selected Tony Nicholson, had found his range in the previous match and now made clear that he would have an important part to play on the tour. He had to work hard for his five wickets in the first innings, but granted more favourable conditions in the second he broke through the top order, enabling Allen to finish the job. By bowling out Natal for 102, MCC had secured another victory when a dull draw had been widely expected at the start of the final day. This was the win that convinced Mike that his side were on the cusp of an outstanding tour, and more was soon to come as they moved to Port Elizabeth, where they were to take on an Eastern Province side that included Barlow and the Pollock brothers. MCC began badly, losing Brearley, Dexter and Barrington for 45 beforeMike joined forceswith Boycott. Concern had beenmounting over Boycott’s poor form, but he now took full advantage of a pitch that negated the pace of Peter Pollock. With Mike, in the form of Triumphant in South Africa