Lives in Cricket No 8 - Ernest Hayes

partnership turned matters round but, when Test débutant Hayes, the seventh bowler tried, took the eighth wicket, the pendulum had swung back towards England. Then an unbroken last wicket partnership of 48 by Nourse and captain Sherwell took South Africa to a memorable win and concluded a modest and mediocre start to Hayes’ undistinguished Test career. Batting at No.5 and coming in at 15 for three after the demise of Warner, Fane and Denton, he had made 20 in the first innings, three in the second. He was not alone in failing to impress. The Sportsman recorded that, with the exception of Crawford and Haigh (who was primarily a bowler, but had only one over in the match), the batting was ‘quite unworthy of the side’. Hayes records that he had a rare run of bad luck, could not do right, was troubled with colds and later at Cape Town, tonsillitis. At Cradock, he had been able to renew acquaintance with some old friends, visited the Congo caves and witnessed diamond mining at 52 Under New Management, Test Cricket, and a Purple Passage England players taking the field at the Newlands Ground, Cape Town, probably in the Fourth Test, South Africa v England in March, 1906.