Empire Cricket Booklet

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JAMES LOGAN

to attend a game between the Refugees and Western Province Cricket Club at Newlands. He recorded in his diary: 'Saturday, January 27 th : A quiet match like this in the middle of war is like the theatres in the French Revolution, when, as Carlyle puts it, the French nobility were going to the guillotine, and all the while the II fiddlers were tweedle-deeing on melodious catgut".' 71 This was in early 1900 in the midst of the 'conventional phase' of the war when British casualties were high. Disappointed at the abandonment of the 1900 tour, and undeterred by the war, Logan began planning his own tour for the following season, even though the Cape players seemed less than enthusiastic. According to Fremantle, Murray Bisset, the secretary

tiations with Lord Hawke arranged a tour schedule for the British summer of 1901 to coincide with his annual trip 'home'. The last meeting of SACA had taken place in August 1899, shortly prior to the war, and it would not meet again until the end of 1902. This allowed Logan to have greater control of the tour and conduct much of the planning through his contacts in Britain. He assembled a team, with close acquaintance Murray Bisset agreeing to captain the squad. Due to begin in May the following year, the 1901 tour was officially announced by Lord Hawke in The Times on 1 December 1900. Ten days after the announcement, a meeting was held at Lord's between the English first-class counties, where it was agreed that 'if the South African team

The Matjiesfontein Mounted Rifles in front of the new Hotel Milner, c1900

and captain of the Western Province Cricket Club, told him on several occasions that quite apart from the absence of Jimmy Sinclair and other prominent South African cricketers at the front, it would be impossible to get a team to visit England - 'the fellows wouldn't go!' he reputedly said. However, as the balance of the war began to swing towards Britain, Logan's determination to organise his own tour started to bear fruit, and through nego

came to England in 1901 the matches with first-class teams should rank as first-class, and consequently be counted in the averages'. 72 This gave Logan's tour the credibility he was seeking. 'A good list of matches was arranged for the South African team, but the programme would no doubt have been even stronger if there had not been some lingering doubt as to the tour being carried out,' announced Wisden. 'It will be remembered that the South Africans - despite the war - announced in December 1899 their intention of