Empire Cricket Booklet

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W. G. SCHULZE

hitting batsman, he was an extrovert, which did not endear him to all of his team-mates. 76 Although these cricketers represent a small sample of the Boer prisoners of war, they underscore the diverse geo gr aphical origins, occupations and family back gr ounds of combatants. In spite of the tensions that built up between Afrikaners and English speaking communities before the war, there was a surprising amount of amity between the gr oups, nowhere more so than on the sporting field, even while the protagonists harboured angry feelings towards the ruling powers, Afrikaners towards the British government and diamond- and gold-mining interests represented by men like Cecil Rhodes, and English-speakers towards the perceived intransigence of Kruger and the Bible-quoting farming interests. The idea for the match appears to have come from J. C. McHeyzer, a prominent member of Colts, who was motivated by public-relations imperatives. He felt that it was 'necessary to correct an impression abroad that the Boers have no opportunities of qualifying themselves to take a worthy part in athletic pastimes with clubs outside. A gr eater mistake could not be harboured.' 77 While there were intra-camp matches, the match with Colts provided an opportunity to demonstrate this to critical international public opinion. The selection committee for the Boer team comprised of De Villiers, Smuts, Kotze, John O'Reilly, Piet Steyn, Tennant and Oosthuizen. The records do not tell how the committee was selected or how it decided on which eleven men to field against the Colts. The team was arguably picked from the form players in the Boer cricket club - based on results of games played in the camp in 1901 and early 1902. Steyn and O'Reilly, two of the selectors, remained behind, because camp authorities restricted the number of passes to eleven players and two officials. The prospect of getting out of Diyatalawa must have been enticing for the cricketers. Tennant, the Boer team's umpire, takes up the story in his diary: The Match

Our cricket match with the Colts comes off this week on Friday and Saturday 5 and 6 th . The whole Island is deeply interested, here and in Colombo, it was the topic of conversation. Of course we hope to win, at least we are sure of giving our opponents a good game. We are to stay at Mt Lavinia 10 minutes by train from Colombo and come in each day. We leave on Thursday unless we hear to the contrary during the week. We had hoped to leave on Wednesday so as to have a day's practice on the turf. The ground is the Nondescripts ground in the Cinnamon Gardens. A month later, Tennant recounted the events of those three eventful days of 4 - 6 July 1901. The Colombo trip and cricket match with all its excitement have come and gone, and only the memory remains. We can at least comfort ourselves with the thought that our anticipa tions were fully realised. Our four days 'holiday' were crammed full of excitement. Promptly at a quarter to six on the morning of Thursday 4 th were all thirteen at the gate, waiting while our paroles were examined. As soon as that was over we stepped out, feeling that for a time at least we were free once more. We stepped out briskly to the hill to the station, my remark that our number [of thirteen] was an unlucky one was quite insufficient to damp the spirits of the party. On arriving at the station we had to dawdle away half an hour. But at last the train puffed up to the platform and we climbed into our carriage fo'llowed by the good wishes of the two hospital nurses who had come up to the station to see us off. 78 As far as Hatton we had the company of two tea planters. They had just returned from getting a licking from the Cornwall at shooting. They pretended to know a lot about the Colts and gave us a lot of advice which when put to the test turned out useless. At last the long tedious day in the train drew to a close. We arrived at Colpetty station where we had to change for Mt Lavinia. As the train drew up to the platform we saw that it was crowded with people, come to see the 'Boer Cricketers'. We all got out with our belongings and waited to be told where to