Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

55 Mead fell just before play ended for the day. Frank and his new partner, Jupp, strode purposefully to the wicket on the final day and attacked the bowling from the start, with Frank hitting two sixes and taking the score to 154 before Jupp was stumped off Hall. By lunchtime England needed only 15 more runs to win but then Frank was caught in the slips for 45 and soon after Taylor ran out Brown. Last man Macaulay, who normally batted at nine for Yorkshire, joined Kennedy with five runs needed for victory. Kennedy survived an over from Blankenberg during which he was almost caught when hitting a ball to the leg boundary to bring the scores level. Hall, who had already taken seven wickets in the innings, prepared to bowl to Macaulay. Facing his first ball, Macaulay missed and was struck on the pad; a loud appeal for lbw was denied by the umpire. Off his second ball, Macaulay missed again and the ball scraped the side of the stumps but the bails were undisturbed. Off his third ball, Macaulay hit the ball past cover and ran to the other end, Kennedy ran past him and nearly every South African fielder ran in pursuit of the ball. Both batsmen reached safety before the ball was returned. England won by one wicket. There were two games to play before the Third Test at Durban and on 7 January Frank and his party of players and wives arrived at Bethlehem, a small town in the Orange Free State where their hotel accommodation awaited. No stable or inns for the MCC of course, and they were well rested and prepared to play and beat the Northern Orange Free State by an innings within the two days allocated and saw Russell score his first century of the tour. Gilligan seized the opportunity to impress by taking five for 19 in the hosts’ second innings but the real bowling success was enjoyed by Jupp with match figures of ten for 44. A three-day match followed at Pietermaritzburg facing Natal and another easy victory was obtained by 236 runs. Gilligan tried again to catch Frank’s eye with figures of four for 38 in Natal’s second innings but it was to no avail as England’s captain had no intention of meddling with a winning combination: the same eleven that had triumphed in the previous Test lined up for the Third Test which started on the Kingsmead Ground in Durban on 18 January. Winning the toss, it wasn’t long before Frank regretted his decision to bat first. Russell, Sandham, Woolley and Carr were all back in the pavilion with only 71 runs on the board. Mead and Fender prevented a disaster by adding 154 for the fifth wicket but both found run-getting difficult after early morning rain had made the outfield slow and Fender took nearly three hours for his 60. With Fender gone, Frank joined Mead who was unbeaten on 123 and the pair played out time with England 256 for five. The next morning Frank decided it was time to take the initiative and he struck two sixes and eleven fours making 84 while helping Mead add 156 for the sixth wicket. Frank might have been tempted to declare now and have plenty of time to grab a few South African wickets before the end of the day but the last four wickets fell in quick succession anyway while Mead extended his innings to over eight hours at the wicket before falling to Blankenberg for 181. The light was poor when Taylor and Catterall opened the South African innings but an appeal to the umpires was unsuccessful and they MCC in South Africa: 1922/1923