Empire Cricket Booklet

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THE GOOGLY, GOLD AND THE EMPIRE

unskilled white workers. The political and economic consequences of this approach might have been fatal for the mining industry, as wage demands and labour resistance, particularly in the light of worker umest in Europe, could have presented a serious challenge to imperial power in the subcontinent. 'We do not,' Milner said succinctly, 'want a white proletariat.' The alternative solution lay in Chinese imported labour, and between 1903 and 1907 some 60 000 Chinese labourers worked on the mines in prison like compounds. 23 Humanitarian opinion in Britain was not impressed, but Lord Harris considered that 'it is umeasonable for ... England to suddenly take exception to the introduction of Asiatics for an industry which is absolutely essential to the world'. 24 For Lord Harris, the empire as well as Consolidated Goldfields profits were at stake, and it was critical that ties be strengthened at all levels between South Africa and the mother country. Cricket was a key means of strengthening the ties of empire - as he was to point out in 1906: 'cricket has done more to consolidate the Empire than any other influence 125 South Africa Acquires the Googly The googly nicely encapsulated the contempt of the amateur establishment for those seen as their social inferiors, particularly Australians whose egalitarian approach to the game flew in the face of the English cricketing structure. That they were social inferiors was confirmed in the minds of onlookers such as Lord Harris when Clem Hill's run out in the 1903 Sydney Test led to a near-riot, an incident which is alleged to have been initiated by heckling from the members' stand. 26 The financial arrangements of the South Africans were in direct contrast to the Australians. Not only did they pay handsomely for amateurs willing to tour South Africa, but they also bore the costs of their own tours to England, and did not seek guarantees or expenses. In the eyes of the establishment, they could not have been truer amateurs. In 1904, South Africa, relying on Abe Bailey's financial resources, embarked on its third British tour. 27 Among their number was the batsman and occasional medium pacer, 'Reggie' Schwarz, who had played for Middlesex since 1901 and had only

recently arrived in South Africa, becoming private secretary to Abe Bailey. 28 Aside from playing a few seasons for Middlesex alongside Bosanquet, Schwarz had also played with him for amateur teams such as I Zingari and the Incogniti, and had joined him on the touring team to the USA in 1901. As this was also the high-water mark for Country House cricket, they almost certainly would have played a good deal of this together too. Schwarz, in short, was aware of the development of the googly and may even have spent time practising it with Bosanquet. While there were imitators before 1904, it was not until Schwarz and the South Africans recognised the possibilities that the googly turned from being a curiosity (albeit an Ashes-winning one) into a cricketing phenomenon and a key weapon in the field of cricketing politics. The South African touring side of 1904 was not considered to be of full international status and did not play any Tests, but seeds sown on this tour were to dominate cricket for a short period at the height of the Edwardian 'Golden Age'. Reggie Schwarz renewed his acquaintanceship with Bosanquet in the first match of the tour at a damp and dank Lord's against a strong MCC side. If Schwarz was in any doubt as to the efficacy of the googly, it was quickly dispelled as, after a solid start against Mead and Frank Tarrant, the South African line-up disintegrated against Bosanquet. Schwarz himself was stumped for a duck, with only 'Buck' Llewellyn, who was playing as a professional for Hampshire but had been drafted in to assist the South Africans, resisting to finish on 68 not out. Bosanquet took 9 for 107 in 22.1 overs, as Grace and Maclaren, those two most formidable ('shamateur') cricketers of a formidable age, looked on. 29 Schwarz was immediately involved in a three-day game at Worcester but had a rest day before the next game against Cambridge University. According to Maitland Hathorn, the South African batsman, he spent it in the nets experimenting and found that not only could he reproduce the ball but that he could achieve reasonable control. After an undistinguished performance against Cambridge University, in which he made 3 and 0 and did not bowl, he managed to persuade the Yorkshire-born captain of South Africa,