Empire Cricket Booklet

•

ABE BAILEY AND THE IMPERIAL CRICKET CONFERENCE

On 27 December 1907, immediately on his return to Johannesburg, a special meeting of SACA was summoned to Bailey's office 'to discuss with him the proposed triangular Test Matches' and 'to hear from him what he had done when recently in England with regard to this matter'. The meeting, chaired by John Reid of Transvaal, officially endorsed Bailey's initiatives, appointed Wynyard as SACA's official representative in England, and agreed to shelve plans for having either the MCC tour South Africa in 1908/09 or Australia in 1909, while en route to tour England, in order to throw 'all our weight and influence into pressing on the Triangular Test matches in England in 1909'. 65

quarters in London, Harris had particularly close connections with Bailey - in the estimate of Richard Parry and Dale Slater, Bailey 'acted virtually as Lord Harris's alter ego both in the mining industry in the reconstruction period and in the cricket world' 66 - and he was key to steering Bailey's proposal through the MCC. Given the roles of Bailey and Harris, and the importance at the time of South African gold to the Bank of England and the pound sterling, Rowland Bowen, in his classic history of cricket, has gone so far as to assert that the decision of Lord's to adopt the triangular tournament represented 'an early illustration of the power of South African gold in influencing policies in Britain'. 67

Punch's impression of Abe Bailey's proposal for a triangular cricket tournament, 28 July 1909

\ �����---�-� - .;}--_

�-

......._ ·- ..-: ���

,

,...

At Lord's, Bailey's proposal to stage a triangular tour nament made a definite appeal. The dominant fi gur es within the MCC, Lords Harris and Hawke, both had strong South African connections, both were committed to the idea of promoting cricket as 'the Empire game', and Harris evidently was also anxious to assert some control over Australia's ' gr asping and unruly' cricketers. As chairman of Consolidated Goldfields of South Africa, which along with the other leading mining houses had its head

As the support of the counties was essential, the MCC Committee first referred Bailey's proposal to the Advisory County Cricket Committee (ACCC). Chaired by Lord Harris, the ACCC voted on 27 January 1908 'in favour of the general principle of the scheme'. 68 At its meeting on 3 February 1908, the MCC Committee duly approved 'the principle of an Imperial Cricket Contest in 1909' and recommended 'that steps should be taken to prepare a scheme upon which invitations to Australia and South Africa