Swallows and Hawke by Andre Odendaal

Author:Andre Odendaal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The next Test, to be played at Kingsmead, was drowned out by the Durban rain, but not before Mead made a marathon 181 in 454 minutes. He had the honour of planting the first tree for making a hundred at the new Kingsmead ground, a tradition that continues. The series was level at one match each, with two to play, after three Tests. The tour returned to Johannesburg for the eagerly awaited fourth Test.

In Johannesburg, the workers’ revolt had been quelled by Smuts’s armed forces, and the mining industry returned to normal. Black workers from the Transvaal had to pay a poll tax for which they were obliged to work in the mines, then they had to provide free labour for three months for the privilege of living in a hut on a farmer’s land.273

Outside the mine compounds, domestic workers were expected to wash, iron, cook and do the garden in addition to the normal kitchen duties for the sum of £2.10 a month, a reduction to pre-war levels. Many walked away, desperation created a crime surge and the state responded with new repressive instruments.

Umpiring had been a running sore throughout the series. Taylor was given not out in the first Test when the whole ground, including Carr on the boundary, heard a nick and Taylor went on to make a hundred. The umpire, Frank Grey, was a South African selector. And the second Test hinged on umpiring decisions, notably when George Thompson turned down the lbw against Macaulay with the scores tied. Neither Thompson nor Grey stood in the fourth Test.

The Wanderers had house full signs up, while thousands outside hoped to get a glimpse of the action. After lunch on the Saturday, play was delayed as spectators spilled over the boundaries and hundreds scrambled on to the superheated and flimsy tin roofs over the stands. A catastrophe was averted, but in this hothouse the cricket was tense from the start. Frank Mann won his second toss and MCC crawled to 244 in more than 100 overs. Alf Hall on an unhelpful surface took 6-82 in 36.4 overs and Carr stonewalled his way to his only Test 50 of the tour.

Tommy Ward held the South African innings together with Dave Nourse, and ‘Doodles’ Tapscott on debut hit a carefree 50, which gave SA a 51-run lead. But these were initial skirmishes and Russell and Sandham put on 153 for the first wicket in reply. Frank Woolley was on his third South African tour and it was not until his 14th Test in the subcontinent that he finally demonstrated his real class. His first ball clipped but did not dislodge his off bail and he stroked an elegant and chanceless hundred. South Africa were set 326 in four hours and Nourse and Taylor took them within 79 runs of victory with six wickets in hand.

8.6 The ‘almost teetotal’ amateur: Arthur Carr

‘I believe in beer for fast bowlers,’ said Carr. ‘I can drink with anyone, but I am decidedly against excess where cricketers are concerned.

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