Empire Cricket Booklet

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BERNARD TANCRED HALL

In 1891, 'a coterie ofJohannesburg cricket luminaries which included Abe Bailey, P. H. de Villiers, A. B.Tancred and George Allsop, decided to call a meeting to be convened by A. B. Tancred in order to consider the formation of a cricket union'. 31 A committee to be convened by Tancred was formed to develop detailed proposals.At its second meeting a draft constitution was adopted, with Tancred being elected the first chairman of the Transvaal Cricket Union amid acclamation.Herman Eckstein subsequently agreed to become the first president and Abe Bailey the first vice-president. Also in 1891, the Pirates Cricket Club was formed in Johannesburg under the leadership of Tancred who was 'ably backed' by P.H.de Villiers, two men who had played together in Kimberley before De Villiers went off to the Cape. 32 Tancred was already moving away from playing a lot of cricket to concentrating on the administration of the game and his legal career. Johannesburg now had two premier cricket clubs, Wanderers and Pirates, with keen rivalry between them. At this distance in time, it is impossible to analyse the impact of family events on his commitment to cricket. Up till now he had concentrated on his legal career and whatever duties towards his parents and siblings that he believed fell upon him as the eldest son. Now, in 1893 aged 28, he married Adeline Wainwright in Cape Town, and the responsibility for his wife and then children added to the demands. Cricket was becoming squeezed to the boundary of his life.He seems to have married well. Adeline had come to South Africa for her health as a young woman. She had lived with her uncle and family, the Felthams, at Stellenberg, their lovely colonial Dutch style house in Cape Town.H.J. Feltham, as noted earlier, was another 'generous' supporter of cricket in Kimberley. 33 In 1894, the year of the first visit by a South African team to England, 'unfortunately, A. B. Tancred, acknowledged by all to be head and shoulders above all other batsmen in South Africa at the time, was unable for business reasons to undertake the trip'. 34 This was the year he settled in Pretoria as manager of the local branch of Charles Leonard's legal firm.

During the progress of the match there was a great deal of betting and the professional bookies attended in considerable numbers. All they didn't know about horses or the respective capabilities of local pugilists or billiard players was not worth knowing but their knowledge of the noble game of cricket was painfully superficial and unreliable. They knew Tancred was a good bat; this much they had picked up somewhere and they learned that the Transvaal team, according to local opinion, ought to win. 26 Similarly, in a commentary by one of the Kimberley team and hence a partial observer, Tancred was de picted at the height of his powers, 'Then our champion went in and at once put a different complexion on the game. Playing every ball with great power and ease, he hit all round the ground ... for the most brilliant innings played in the tournament.' 27 His 89 and 62 were 'a treat to witness'. 28 When in the second innings Tancred was bowled by Tudhope, the local Transvaal crowd went wild with delight; 'there was such a cheer as I never remember hearing. For quite five minutes the crowd rose as one man and howled and waved their hats, shook each other's hands and bonneted each other like so many lunatics.' 29 When Kimberley eventually won the match, it was the turn of the visiting supporters of the winning team to let their hair down, 'such a drinking of champagne, such hand-shaking, dancing, cheering, and foolish actions! Such crowing, swaggering, and such persistent drunkenness.' 30 Whether the crowd's enthusiasm was mainly due to the expectation of a Transvaal win or its consequences for those who had laid bets on that outcome is unclear. A. B. Tancred did not return to Kimberley with the visiting team, but remained in Johannesburg and started a new job. The season of 1891/92 saw the visit of W. W. Read's English touring team to South Africa. Playing for a Johannesburg XVIII at Johannesburg in January, Tancred made 46 and 0. A few days later, playing now for a Transvaal XV at Johannesburg, he only managed 4 and 0. In February, for a Transvaal XVIII at Johannesburg, he made 27 and 31 not out. In the only Test of that tour, at Cape Town in March, he did not play.