Empire Cricket Booklet

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A. B. TANCRED AND HIS BROTHERS

out of 235) versusBowden (63 out of 117 and 126 not out of 224 for 4). Thus, Tancred scored the first Currie Cup century and, as Bowden was an Englishman passing through the country, Tancred was by far the best South African batsman around. Indeed J. H. D. Piton, one of the Transvaal players, noted: 'We knew we had something great to encounter when meeting such fine players as A B. Tancred (the then "W. G." of South Africa) ... the great "A B.". 12 4 Nonetheless, Transvaal won by six wickets. By 1890, Rhodes controlled the South African diamond mining industry, and with it 90 per cent of world production. After a shaky start, Kimberley had established its cricketing credentials, but this success was to be short-lived, for after 1886 all eyes turned to the discovery of gold on the Rand and, in Rhodes's case, the hope of more gold further north in what would become his Rhodesia. Rhodes and Rudd eventually bought deeds to eight or nine gold claims and in 1887 set up another company, Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa. By now the balance in the commercial world had shifted, and as Rhodes had waxed in relative significance, Rudd, the early supporter of the game in Kimberley, had waned. As new opportunities emerged in the Transvaal, many sporting talents were drawn to the hope of richer commercial or sporting pickings among the gold reefs on 'the ridge of the white waters'. Among those ready to move to the Rand was 'the Kimberley crack' - A B. Tancred. In the second Currie Cup tournament played at Johannesburg between Kimberley and Transvaal in April 1891, the tables were turned when Kimberley won. There was, however, much bitterness prior to the start of the game when Tancred objected to the presence in the Transvaal team of E. A Halliwell, on the grounds that he had not been resident in the area for the required six months. The South African Cricket Association were meeting at the same time and backed Tancred. 25 C. E. Finlason was in no doubt as to who in the .Kimberley team was the batsman that Transvaal must dismiss:

With an enthusiastic .Kimberley public eager for more, a return match against the English tourists was arranged for 18 to 20 March 1889. Tancred scored only 1 in the first innings, but in the second struck Briggs for a 'magnificent' straight six which was followed by the Kimberley special, a dust storm. He was eventually run out by his partner F. Wege for 41 before rain arrived and the match ended in a draw with Kimberley unbeaten by the tourists. After the match there were presentations of bats, gold medals, a watch and some money to various players. Then in the Second Test in Cape Town on 25 and 26 March1889, in South Africa'sfirstinnings'AB' opened the batting and scored 26 not out in a decidedly modest total of 47 and, by a statistical oddity, became the first batsman, also the lowest-scoring, to carry his bat in a Test match. In the second innings he could only manage 3 and England won by an innings and 202 runs. In the two Tests, Tancred top-scored in three out of four innings. He averaged 29.00; Dunell averaged 14.00; no one else in the team averaged over 10.00; and all but three averaged less than 5.00. South African cricket was clearly not yet up to international standard. For reasons that can only be partly explained, these were the only two Tests in which their most successful batsman so far ever played. In 1889, A B.'s old school presented him with a gold miniature bat inscribed, 'AB. TANCRED, Esq., The Champion Bat of South Africa, from St Aidan's past and present'. In the 1889/90 season, Natal toured the Cape Colony, with the Kimberley matches being played at the Eclectic ground. In the first match, 31 December 1889 and 1 January 1890, Tancred, captaining Kimberley, scored 63 in the first innings total of 135 runs by 'splendid cricket'. In the second innings he made55 out of 131, and was 'again the saviour of his side. What a magnificent bat he was.' 23 The Kimberley victory was attributed to his prowess. In the second match, on 2 and 3 January, he made 75 out of 445, with Grimmer outstanding making 122 before he was run out. The year 1890 witnessed the inaugural match in the Currie Cup competition played at Kimberley between .Kimberley and Transvaal (5 and 7 April 1890). This proved to be a game of Tancred (42 out of 98 and 106