Empire Cricket Booklet

KEITH BOOTH

although the tour went ahead and Lohmann played a part in its organisation, his health was not robust enough for him to accompany the team. By February 1894, plans were well in hand for the tour of England the following northern hemisphere summer. There was much enthusiasm, discussions occurred at high levels and sound financial backing had been secured. Logan guaranteed £500, increasing to £600 if necessary, and Cecil Rhodes, prime minister of Cape Colony, pledged a similar amount. 17 Although Lohmann had played no first-class cricket in South Africa at this time, his opinion was sought and valued on both cricket and related managerial matters. One of the final two candidates for the post of tour manager was H. G. Cadwallader, secretary of the South African Cricket Association, who had expressed his willingness to do the job for expenses only. The other candidate, W. V Simkins of the Western Province Cricket Union, had asked for £25 per month, and press rumours circulated that Cadwallader had asked for a similar amount. In a letter to the press, Cadwallader denied this and concluded that such rumours had started when he had met Logan in Matjiesfontein, who had suggested that he would be foolish to accept the appointment on an 'expenses only' basis. 18 Lohmann had been 'standing by' and expressed the view that £25 per month would be reasonable. In the event, Simkins accompanied the team, but the relevance of the anecdote to the Lohmann story is that he was seen as one with authoritative views on the financial side of the game. An inter-state committee and a fortnight's practice before departure were suggested. Nominations were received from Western Province, Transvaal, Natal, Eastern Province, Kimberley, Orange Free State and Outside Districts. Fifteen were selected and the team departed for England on 11 April on the Tartar, a journey preceded by an on-board lunch attended by 'a number of gentlemen'. By this time, they had doubtless cleared their minds of the subject of 'Krom' Hendricks, who on merit should have been an automatic selection. While the tour provided invaluable experience for the South Africans, it failed to capture the public

imagination and was, in financial terms, said Wisden euphemistically, 'extremely disappointing'. Expenses were £3 600, receipts £500 and the venture was bailed out by South African friends in England. C. 0. H. Sewell impressed with his batting, Rowe with his bowling and Ernest Halliwell with his wicket-keeping, but 'taking them as an eleven, there was nothing to lift them above the level of the commonplace'. 19 The colour question became a major issue with the potential selection of left-arm fast bowler, 'Krom' Hendricks, for the tour. Lohmann's views were based not on colour or racial politics and are scarcely surprising. They were founded on the argument that the team should be selected on cricket merit and that Hendricks should go to England. Unlike Bailey, he had no hidden personal or political agenda. He could speak as a professional cricketer and from the liberal outlook that had been part of his upbringing: From a purely cricket point of view it would seem as if the exclusion of Hendricks, the coloured, was hardly wise policy. Lohmann, Frank Hearne and Mills were all, so my information goes, in favour of his accompanying the party. As a fast bowler Mills declares him to be considerably above the average, and as all the bowling at the disposal of the captain is of the slower kind, he would in all probability have been a great acquisition to the team. 20 It was a rational, non-political view, but selection of South African national teams on grounds other than merit was something which was to remain largely unchallenged by the remainder of the cricket world for a century and more. Lohmann was a new boy in South Africa and though his opinions on cricket commanded respect, he was in no position to shape the region's politics. Logan, however, who shared Lohmann's views, had more political clout and his withdrawal of financial support for the tour meant that the gap between receipts and expenditure was wider than it would otherwise have been: I found myself dealing with people with whom formerly I had had no negotiations on the subject of the guarantee and with the fact that