Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

57 Carr taking 165 minutes to get his 63 and Fender 90 minutes for his 44. Frank hit a quick 34 before England were all out for 244 and South Africa ended the day at eight for no wicket. 28 The next day was a Saturday and there was such a large crowd in the ground that the gates had to be closed soon after lunch. South Africa also struggled to score runs but batted nearly all day to earn a first innings lead of 51. Rain caused delays on Monday but at last the England openers held fast and put on 153 for the first wicket. Carr, Mead and Fender all failed until Woolley was joined by Frank at 221 for five and they added 73 before close of play. Frank hit 36 of the next 51 runs to reach 59 before being caught by Meintjes when trying to hit Blankenberg for another boundary. His stand with Woolley for the sixth wicket had been worth 124 and he let Woolley bat on, unbeaten with 115, before declaring at 376 for six, with little risk of South Africa reaching a target of 326 but an outside chance of bowling them out. Two wickets fell quickly before Nurse joined Taylor at 32 for two and in a partnership of 134 in 130 minutes they steered South Africa to safety and only 78 runs short of victory with six wickets to fall when the Test ended. The final, Fifth Test was scheduled to start at Durban three days later and both sides were confident of winning to take the series 2-1. But with only four days’ play allocated as usual there was no certainty that either side could force a result and Frank was delighted when special arrangements were made to re-schedule the final two matches of the tour so that the final Test could be played to a finish. Even so, an exchange of cables with the MCC at Lord’s was required to obtain approval before the match could proceed. Despite his recent lack of success, Gilligan was brought into the team to replace Jupp, as Frank now believed that he needed a bowler with real speed if he was going to break the South African batting. For the third Test in a row, Frank won the toss and decided to bat and once again England lost early wickets. Both Sandham and Woolley were gone with only 17 runs on the board: this time it was Russell and Mead who came to the rescue with a partnership of 139. England finished the day at 261 for eight but Russell went early the next morning for 140. A final total of 281 seemed unimpressive until South Africa were unable to recover from the early dismissal of Taylor, caught by Russell off Gilligan for only three runs, and they crumbled to 179 all out. With only five minutes left for play that Saturday, Frank promoted Brown and Kennedy to open the innings in order to protect his usual openers. They did survive and returned to the middle on Monday morning after heavy rain during Sunday night had left a dead outfield. The two substitute openers did not last long and were soon followed by Woolley and Mead, with England tottering at 26 for four. This left Russell, who was unwell and had been advised to remain in the bed where he had been since Saturday afternoon, to be joined by Sandham: together they took England past three figures 28 Carr’s tour was none too successful; he struggled on matting wickets. In this match Frank insisted at one stage that he should field long leg at both ends. Perhaps by way of retaliation, Carr later expressed the view that his captain was slow in the field and could not get down to the ball unless it came straight to him. Other commentators, though, noted that Frank had a peculiar habit of going down on one knee as he fielded a hard drive. MCC in South Africa: 1922/1923