Empire Cricket Booklet

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DEAN ALLEN

in January 1893 and led to his meeting Logan. Wintering in South Africa was not new for English cricketers, and Lohmann was sent by his county in the hope that the climate would benefit his health. 20 His Surrey and England team-mate Maurice Read accompanied him. Upon reaching Cape Town, the pair was advised that a move to the drier climate of the interior would be beneficial, and for a while they were based at the new sanatorium at Ceres, a small agricultural town 90 miles to the north. 21 It was not long, however, before they were invited by Logan to relocate to Matjiesfontein, which by now had gained a reputation as a fashionable rival to the health resorts at both Ceres and Beaufort West. It was a move that would bring Logan copious publicity.

Coinciding with Logan's rapid rise in fortune was his involvement in cricket. A keen advocate of the game, Logan's original plans for Matjiesfontein had included a full-sized cricket square, and during the 1890s he hosted English and South African cricketers at this unlikely venue. 19 A hospitable sojourn at Matjiesfontein was an enjoyable part of a touring side's programme and brought both Logan and Matjiesfontein public acclaim. However, it was as a benefactor of the game in South Africa that Logan made his greatest contribution. As the chapter by Keith Booth shows, George Lohmann was widely regarded as one of the finest cricketers of his generation. It was his poor health that brought him to South Africa for the first time

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Matjiesfontein, Cape Colony, c1890