Empire Cricket Booklet

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DEAN ALLEN

their customary stay at the village. More drama was to befall the team on their journey between Kimberley and Matjiesfontein, as a brake failure caused the train in which they were travelling to collide with another engine. 67 Windows were smashed and the party was badly shaken. Despite some minor injuries to Trott and Milligan, the team was able to take the field against James Logan and his team of 23 at Matjiesfontein on 17 March 1899. The fixture offered Logan the chance to entertain Hawke and his team in lavish style. Reinforced on the fieldbyJimmySinclairandMurray Bisset,Logan'sside gave a good account of itself, making 242 in the first innings with Logan himself contributing 18 not out. 68 Played in a convivial atmosphere, 'good chance play was the order of the day', declared one contemporary report, as Logan's side went on to secure an unlikely 46-run victory. 69 'A scratch game ... being played in a most lax way,' was how Wisden reported the fixture. 70 Gerald Pawle, writing in The Cricketer, also suggests that the fact that Albert Trott finished with 7 for 69 indicates that Lord Hawke, out of deference to his host and sponsor, must have taken his most successful bowler off for quite a long spell to allow for a period of 'good chance play'. In the Second Test that followed in Cape Town, England bundled South Africa out for 35 in the second innings, to win by 210 runs, with Trott claiming 8 wickets in the match. As a sequel to Hawke's two tours, Logan proposed to SACA that he should sponsor a second South African tour of England in 1900; the team would be a purely amateur one, selected by the Association. At its annual general meeting at the Wanderers on 31 August 1899, SACA accepted the proposal and requested Lord Hawke to 'arrange a first class tour'. Hawke duly proceeded to organise a full programme, but as a consequence of the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa in October 1899, the tour had to be called off. In most parts of South Africa it was not a time for cricket, although organised cricket continued to be played in the Cape, a fact that sat uneasily with some of those involved. Dr Francis Freman.tie found time in his busy schedule tending the wounded at Wynberg General Hospital The 1901 Tour

cricketers had to wait until the Bulawayo coach arrived, when it was turned round and set off on the return journey. At Enkeldoorn, the coach became so deeply bogged that three spans, thirty-six oxen, were needed to pull it out. During much of the journey the players had to remain alert, ready to jump out and put their shoulders to the wheel to help the straining animals to keep the coach moving. 65 The five men eventually arrived in Bulawayo on the morning of the match, shortly before play started. It is popularly thought that James Logan was so impressed by their determination that he at once asked Lord Hawke to purchase a cup on his return to England for inter-town competition. An impressive silver trophy arrived in due course and, known as the Logan Cup, became an important part of Rhodesian cricket. Logan had seen others donate trophies in South Africa and recognised the positive publicity that this brought. At two feet six inches in height and made of solid silver, the cup carried the following inscription: 'Presented by the Hon. J. D. Logan, M. L. C., to the Rhodesian Cricket Association in commemoration of the first visit of an English team of Lord Hawke's, March 1899.' Costing Logan 100 guineas, the trophy was received by the Rhodesian Cricket Association in the weeks prior to the outbreak of the South African War. Following their sojourn in Rhodesia, Hawke's team headed back to South Africa. A match had been arranged in Mafeking but the locals were unable to raise a team, so another match was quickly arranged in Kimberley against a Griqualand West XV on 11 and 12 March 1899. The Kimberley side gave the visitors their toughest challenge of the tour. The Englishmen found themselves reduced to 54 for 9 before a last-wicket partnership of 72 took the score to 126. Brilliant hitting by A. W. Powell enabled Griqualand West to reach 200 despite the Yorkshire professional Schofield Haigh recording figures of 9 for 44. A thunderstorm that ended the match prematurely saved Hawke and his team from the prospect of an embarrassing defeat. 66 In the meantime, Logan had returned to Matjiesfon tein in preparation for the arrival of the English for