Empire Cricket Booklet

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TWO CRICKETERS AND A WRITER

their Durban counterparts in March 1894. His best performance of the season, however, was an extraordinary 9 wickets for 5 runs when playing for Zingari 'A' against Garrison. There was much encouragement from the Natal Witness, a newspaper that devoted considerable attention to the town's cricket. It was for the Witness Cricket Club against N. G. Asylum that Llewellyn produced the outstanding match analysis of 21.1-13-12-13 in January 1895. the same month, he played his first senior club matches for Zingari and, in early February, claimed 5 for 10 in helping Colonial-born defeat Home-born. The Natal Witness's cricket correspondent expressed his delight that two of the town's promising teenagers, Llewellyn and 'Jock' Arnold, should be chosen for the Natal Currie Cup side which would play against Transvaal at the City Oval, Pietermaritzburg, in April 1895. The newspaper would later report that 'Llewellyn's feat in getting the Transvaal skipper's wicket [clean bowled] with the third ball of his first over was very popular with the crowd'. 25 The Currie Cup match is also notable because it was the first time that Llewell yn and Sinclair had played against each other. Transvaal's success against Natal was largely due to Sinclair. He made an unbeaten 61 in a one-wicket victory in which he and the injured Dirk Schuurman added 17 in a thrilling last wicket partnership. 'The excitement at this stage was intense,' recorded the Natal Mercury. 'Maiden after maiden was sent down, but then the adverse balance was gradually reduced by singles and lucky snicks.' Sinclair hit the winning run to be 'chaired off the ground by his confreres and loudly cheered'. 26 Llewellyn could nevertheless be well pleased with a performance that was duly praised. Dropped catches prevented him from taking more than one wicket in the Transvaal first innings but when they went in again to chase 203, he bowled superbly to capture 3 for 39 in nineteen overs. A highlight was clean bowling Ernest Halliwell who had reached 30 and threatened to dominate proceedings. The wicket would have some bearing on Llewell yn earning his first Test cap. In 1895/96, Lord Hawke's English team visited South Africa to play three Tests. It was a period when South Africans followed the English systemwhereby the host

of 'blatant segregation' and Guha mentioned that 'Harris was unwavering in his support for European polo over native cricket'. When the time came for Harris to leave India, it was stated 'never during the last hundred years has a Governor of Bombay been so sternly criticised and never has he met with such widespread unpopularity'. 20 Sinclair and Llewellyn Sinclair and Llewellyn were two of the most talented South African cricketers of their generation, as their precociousness demonstrated. They were almost exact contemporaries and their careers were inevitably intertwined. They were born within a few weeks of each other in 1876: Llewellyn at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, on 26 September and Sinclair at Swellendam, Cape Colony, on 16 October. It was the latter who first made the headlines when he was chosen as a fifteen-year-old for the XVIII of Johannesburg against W. W. Read's English touring team in January 1892. He took two English wickets for 37 runs and, batting last, struck a four. His performance impressed several influential players, notably Abe Bailey, A. B. Tancred, Ernest 'Barberton' Halliwell, Charles Finlason and George Allsop. Before long Sinclair 'was the youngest of Abe Bailey's mature [Transvaal] team'. 21 In November 1892, barely sixteen, Sinclair opened the batting and bowling for the Transvaal against Western Province at Kimberley. He made 37 in his debut knock and captured 5 for 90 in the second innings of a Westem Province side that included three English professionals. 22 Finlason argued in The Press that Sinclair should be chosen for the South African side for the-English tour in 1894. 23 According to A. W. Seccull, the selection committee spent some time discussing the qualities of the promising all rounder before deciding that he was too young and inexperienced. 24 Llewellyn meanwhile progressed through the Pietermaritzburg junior ranks where promising youngsters played matches and received coaching prior to being drafted into the town's well-organised club system. His seven wickets helped the Maritzburg Inter-town Junior XI to a ten-wicket victory over