Lives in Cricket No 42 - Frank and George Mann

93 MCC in South Africa 1948/49 The Third Test was arranged to start only two days after the Second: three airliners carried both teams 600 miles south to Cape Town, from high plateau to sea level, from dry air to seaside humidity. George won the toss and decided to bat with an unchanged side. Contrary to its initial appearance, the wicket quickly became a typical English ‘green-top’, offering huge assistance to the South African seam bowlers. England looked in trouble at 152 for four and it needed a resolute George to carry the innings forward. He added 51 with Watkins and 46 with Evans, but with Jenkins soon out, George decided it was time to go on the attack. He swung at a half-volley which was destined to sail into the crowd for a six over Mitchell’s head if the fielder hadn’t stuck his hand up with more hope than certainty and found the ball stuck safely between his fingers and palm. George had made 44 out of 111 and England ended the day at 294 for nine. England were all out for 308 on the second morning: with almost three days of play ahead South Africa were in a position to seize the initiative if they could build a big first-innings lead and leave themselves time to ask England to try and avoid an innings defeat. George was having none of it and instructed his bowlers to shut up the game. South Africa managed only 55 runs in the 75 minutes between the fall of the last England wicket and lunch and then only 53 runs in the 90 minutes after lunch. At the end of the day South Africa were still 85 runs behind but with eight wickets in hand and Nourse and Mitchell ready to launch an attack. Eventually the third-wicket partnership was broken after adding 188 runs and South Africa were very much in control until their next seven wickets crashed for the addition of only 53 runs. So at the start of the final day England were 37 runs in front with nine wickets in hand and little chance of a result. Even so George thought it was worth a try and with nearly three hours of play available he declared, something unthinkable in modern international cricket, asking South Africa to make 229 runs, a target that they ignored, scoring 142 from 32 eight-ball overs, for the loss of four wickets. After two consecutive Tests the itinerary now asked MCC to play five matches before the Fourth Test five weeks later. They beat Border by an innings but drew with Eastern Province, Transvaal and twice with Rhodesia, before returning to Johannesburg for the fourth in the series. It was panic stations for South Africa who dropped nearly half of the side that had failed in Cape Town, bringing back Eric Rowan and Tuckett, with three players making their Test debuts. England made two changes, one logical and one surprising. Wright had been having trouble with his run-up and had taken no wickets at Cape Town and only bowled eleven overs out of 150 in the match while conceding 76 runs. His replacement would be Jack Young, who had played in all the last five matches since the Third Test and bowled very economically while taking 23 wickets, a wise choice going into the final two Tests one Test in front. But everyone was surprised that Godfrey Evans had been dropped in favour of Griffith, in particular John Arlott who doubted ‘if those who selected him would argue that Billy Griffith was a better keeper than Godfrey Evans.’