Empire Cricket Booklet

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GOOLAM VAHED AND VISHNU PADAYACHEE

advantage. They had the facilities and time and were the only ones to practise. Everything was found for them. They ate, slept, worked and played cricket.

Cassimjee, Bayat, Badat and Rawat families were among the earliest Muslim traders to make their mark. They opened retail stores in the prestigious 'Top End' of Pietermaritzburg, which comprised of Commercial, Church and Pietermaritz streets, across the road from Market Square, the commercial hub of white Pietermaritzburg. The mosque that they built in 1892 was a symbol of their influence in the region. A few moneyed Muslim traders were surrounded by a sea of whites, while the majority of small Indian traders operated in the lower end of Church Street. Well-known businesses like I. S. Cassimjee and Company, E. C. Rawat and Sons, M. C. Camroodeen and Amod Bayat (Pty) Ltd. operated boarding houses to accommodate employees from India, and later from nearby Camperdown, Nottingham Road and Estcourt. They were the first to start cricket clubs. The City Players Indian Cricket Club was formed in Pietermaritzburg in October 1901 by Reverend John Thomas, headmaster of the Wesleyan School. Thomas was president, Manual John captain, D. B. Sebastian vice-captain and L. R. Gopaul secretary. Committee members included Jonas Ebenazer, R. Isaacs, M. J. Thomas. P. Paul, R. E. John, V. Lazarus and P. S. Aiyar, editor of African Chronicle. The club's colours were chocolate and white, with a logo of an elephant. 5 3 Muslim players formed the Star of India Cricket Club, whose secretary was Abdul Hamid Seepye. 54 The Pietermaritzburg Indian Cricket Club (MICC) was formed by the likes of Dowlath Narrandes, its secretary and brilliant wicketkeeper, and other descendants of indentured Indians, such as Rambally 55 and Rambaran Singh, Dowleh Singh, Julum Singh, Naraina Pillay, Mahabeer, Soobrail, Patchappan and Lutchana. 56 MICC subsequently changed it name to Royals, again showing the esteem in which royalty was held. City Bell's Cricket Club was formed by Harry Peters. It was captained by R. Peters� S. James was vice-captain, and the secretary was D. Lazarus. Harry Peters was born in Durban but moved to Johannesburg in 1896 to work in the hotel industry. He returned to Pietermaritzburg during the South African War. The arrival of refugees boosted Indian cricket and Harry Peters was instrumental in forming the Pietermaritzburg District Indian Cricket Union in January 1902, with L. Robert Gopaul as secretary. 57

Spreading the Game: Pietermaritz burg and Northern Natal From Durban, cricket spread to other parts of Natal following traders, and later, colonial-born elites. Some followed the extension of the railway line to the Transvaal, settling in towns such as Ladysmith and Charletstown; others moved to the coal mining interior of Northern Natal in towns like Dundee and Newcastle; many settled in sugar-producing areas such as Lower Tugela, Inanda, Umlazi, Alexandra and Lower Umzikulu along the Natal coast, and tea, maize and wattle-growing midlands in villages like Ixopo, Richmond, New Hanover, Camperdown, Kranskop, Estcourt and Underberg. Traders often went into strange and unfamiliar environments, driven by the promise of future possibilities. Though they had few guarantees and faced many obstacles, they played a crucial role in the Natal economy, the Protector of Indian immigrants observing in 1886 that 'were the Indian element withdrawn from the Colony for a single month the whole fabric of industrial business and domestic comfort would be little short of paralysed'. 51 The evolution of cricket in these centres followed the trajectory in Durban, with trader and educated elites at the core of establishing formal cricket. During the period under review, cricket was at a rudimentary stage in most parts of Natal as traders only began settling there from the 1890s. However, once cricket became established, players from places like Stanger, Newcastle, Pietermaritzburg and, in particular Ladysmith, became prominent in Natal cricket. The one exception during the early period was Pietermaritzburg, the largest urban centre after Durban. A large number of free Indians and railway employees settled there, following the railway line which reached the city in 1880. The Indian population increased from 474 in 1878 to 1671 in 1884. By 1885, there were seventeen traders. 52 Pietermaritzburg's rapidly growing population provided a ready market for Indian traders. The