Empire Cricket Booklet

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BERNARD TANCRED HALL

Vincent's cricketing career began in Pretoria where established players such as William Brockwell, a Surrey professional,A. E. Trott,the great Australian bowler who qualified forMiddlesex at the time,and L. C. Braund, a professional from Somerset, spent seasons as coaches. Also at this time,C. E. Finlason,a successful player in his younger days in Kimberley, arrived to edit The Press. Playing in local club matches, Vincent matched older brother 'AB' as a batsman, and in the seventh Currie Cup tournament in Cape Town in 1898 both Vincent and his younger brother Louis played for Transvaal in all four matches. When Lord Hawke's (second)English team played Transvaal in Johannesburg in February (4, 6, and 7) 1899,Vincent opened the batting with J. H. Sinclair and made 27 and 8 whereas brother Bernard, batting at six,his favourite slot,only managed 1 and 13. In the subsequent match two days later against a Transvaal XV,'AB' (35 and 9) and Vincent (37 and 0) opened the Transvaal innings. It was in the First Test in the 1898/99 (14-16 February in Johannesburg) series that Vincent made his only Test match appearance for South Africa, in so doing becoming the second Tancred to represent his country at this level. He opened the batting and scored a modest 18 and Z It was in this match that the young 'Plum' Warner made his Test debut and became the first English player to score a century on debut for England,and also the first to carry his bat on debut. He made 132 not out in what was his only Test century. Vincent may have considered himself unlucky not to be selected for the Second Test in which his replacement Howard Francis scored 1 and 2. In 1902, when Joe Darling's team, returning from their tour to England, became the first Australian team to play in South Africa,Vincent fared badly for Transvaal at Pretoria (15,16,17 October),making only 1 and 0,while his younger brother Louis,who opened, made 70 and 8. During the evening of 3 June 1904, aged 29, while the South African cricket team were touring England, Vincent committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Earlier that evening, he had been playing billiards with friends at the New Club in Johannesburg and was said to be in the best of health and spirits,a doubtful claim given that he then

aged only 46 and leaving no male heir of that family line. The scene was set for another Tancred funeral, and the by-now-customary prediction that the name would be forever remembered in South Africa. Over a period, newspaper reports had rated him the best batsman in the country and,as the Wisden obituary reflected,'for about ten years he was undoubtedly the finest batsman in South Africa ' - years that saw South Africa's entry into first-class cricket. Second son Claudius Cassiolo Tancred, known as 'Claude',continued the family tradition of grandiose first names. Born in 1870,he was the second Tancred to play against a visiting English team when,while still a schoolboy at St Aidan's, he was included in a Grahamstown XXII againstMajor Warton's team, the first English team in South Africa,inMarch 1889. Cricket may have been of secondary importance to the social event on offer,as well as a chance to wave the imperial flag. The mayor and many prominent citizens awaited the arrival of the visitors who travelled in 'three ofMr Wheeldon's carts' from King William's Town. A splendid reception followed. The match, played at Grahamstown's City Lords, 44 was won easily by England. Claude was bowled by Briggs for 1 in the first innings and caught Abel bowled Briggs for 12 in the second, when he 'skied the final ball of the over to the on,and,Abel running hard for it,brought off an excellent catch'. 45 It was Claude's final appearance on the cricketing stage,for four months later he developed diphtheria and nearly died, but recovered after a leg was amputated. When he was well enough to travel,his parents accompanied him home to Kimberley by train in a specially adapted compartment. A month later,his sister Zoe died aged ten. Nothing more is known of his life until his death in Pretoria aged 25 inMay 1896. Claude Cassiolo Tancred

Vincent Maximillian Tancred

Born in 1875,VincentMaximillian Tancred achieved lasting fame but for all the wrong reasons. Shooting oneself in the head,no fewer than three times if press reports are to be believed, is scarcely the stuff of cricketing legends.