Lives in Cricket No 8 - Ernest Hayes

bare of turf and drought conditions prevail.’ In the twenty-first century, we have become accustomed to ‘gap years’, but a trip of this kind at this time shows a considerable degree of independence and self-reliance. Apartheid was already in place. It was not called that at the time, nor was it formalised in the way it was in the post-1948 Nationalist government, but racial segregation already existed as a product of British imperialism. Hayes takes an interest in the Kaffir location and dances and while there is no condescension in an observation that some of the natives play the game very well, he accepts as perfectly natural that they have a club of their own, the ‘Rosebuds’. Integration was not on the agenda. In a later interview, he tells a tale of how an impromptu game of cricket occasioned by a delayed train, arouses the interest of the natives. ‘So we got our bats and a ball and played cricket on the veldt, with a crowd of about a hundred Kaffirs standing up in cattle-trucks watching us and cheering every hit.’ He adds ‘These Kaffirs were placed in cattletrucks like herrings in a barrel and had no room to sit down.’ The cricket writer and historian W.A.Bettesworth, who was conducting the interview, asked whether Hayes had anything to do with the Kaffirs. Hayes replied: ‘Not in the way of coaching. At Cradock they are very keen on the game, and know the rules like a first-class cricketer; two or three of them could speak English. They gave the English a good game. They all behaved exceedingly well to me, and took a great interest in my doings and my cricket things.’ He was alive to the cultural differences, as illustrated in the following tale: ‘I remember once splitting a rubber handle while practising and throwing it down. Instantly there was a rush of Kaffirs from behind the net to get hold of it. I noticed afterwards that pieces of it were tied on several different bats, and I think they must have regarded it as a species of charm.’ He seems, however, to have integrated pretty well with those of his own colour and culture, taking the opportunity to visit his playing colleagues and opponents of the summer who were in Lord Hawke’s touring side and commenting on the poor state of health of his fellow Surrey professional George Lohmann. Coaching in South Africa and then a County Stalwart 27