Empire Cricket Booklet

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1900, when five Boers on the Catalonia, which lay in Colombo harbour, made a daring break by swimming to a nearby Russian ship, the Cherson. For an account of how they made their way back to South Africa, see C. J. Barnard, Die VyfSwemmers (Pretoria: Bienedell Publishers, 2004); for an account of other escapes, see P. J. Nienaber, 'Hoe Krygsgevangenes Ontsnap Het', Die Huisgenoot, 10 November 1944, 11 and 45. 13 J. N. Brink mentions 4 735 prisoners of war at Diyatalawa, and also describes day-to-day life in the camp at Diyatalawa: see J. N. Brink, Recollections ofa Boer Prisoner-ofWar at Ceylon (Amsterdam and Cape Town: Hollandsch-Afrikaansche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1904), 117 ff, 14 F. J. G. van der Merwe, Sport en Spel in die Boerekrygsgevangenekampe 1899-1902 (University of Stellenbosch Annals Series) (Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch, 1995), 44-5. On camp life at Diyatalawa in general, see the series of articles by 0. van Oostrum, 'Herinneringe van Ceylon', Die Huisgenoot, 26 April, 3 May, 10 May and 17 May 1935. 15 Van der Merwe, Sport en Spel, 40 ff. 16 Transvaal versus Orange Free State; Camp versus Grey College; All Comers versus Catelonians; First XI versus Twenty Others; Pipe Smokers versus Non Smokers and Cigarette Smokers; and Diyatalawa Colts, a team consisting of Boers who held certain posts at Ceylon, versus the Camp XI. The club secretary, P. V. Oosthuizen, was responsible for recording the statistics. Details are preserved in the club's score book which is housed at the Transvaal Archival Repository (TAB) in Pretoria: see TAB, A 1428, 'Cricket score book (1 Jan -1 April 1902)'. See also TAB, 1438 - R. L. Brohier, Paper cuttings Vols. II, VI and VII, The Boer Prisoner-of-War in Ceylon, 1900-1902. 17 Although the Boer club consisted of around 70 members, this study restricts biographical details to those 13 members directly involved in the match against Colombo. The three primary sources on this match, the Official Match Programme, the Ceylon Independent and Luckin's History of South African Cricket list the Boer players, selectors, umpire and scorer by initial and surname only. The first challenge was to put a first name to the players. Two of the players, Pieter Hendrik de Villiers and George Sennett, were well-known South African first-class cricketers and identifying them was not a problem. Three others, J. Scheepers, J. Coetzer and D. du Toit, could not be identified with certainty, while a fourth, P. du Plessis, was in all probability Paul Bester du Plessis of Harrismith in the Orange Free State, but

Sennett's grandson, Jeremy Haskins. I am indebted to Haskins who provided access to these valuable documents. References to these are cited as Sennett, 'Song Book' and Sennett, 'Scrap Book'. The pages of the song book are numbered, while those of the scrap book are not. 2 The Boer prisoners of war used song to keep up their morale: see G. S. Freiler, Ons Parool: Dae Uit die Dagboek van 'n Krygsgevangene (Kaapstad: Nasionale Pers, 1938), 110 ff. 3 It was first reported upon in the Ceylon Independent. Maurice Luckin also referred to it in his 1915 magnum opus on early South African cricket. At least six further references to the match have appeared in print, drawing on either the original report in the Ceylon Independent or the description by Luckin: see M. W. Luckin (ed.), The History ofSouthAfrican Cricket: Including the Full Scores ofAll Important Matches since 1876 Oohannesburg: Hortor, 1915), 803-806. 4 A. Odendaal, The Story ofanAfrican Game: Black Cricketers and the Unmasking ofOne ofCricket's Greatest Myths, SouthAfrica, 1850-2003 (Cape Town: David Philip, 2003); M. Allie, More than a Game: History ofthe Western Province Cricket Board 1959-1991 (Cape Town: Cape Argus, 2000); A. Khota,Across the Great Divide: Transvaal Cricket's Joys, Struggles and Triumphs Oohannesburg: Gauteng Cricket Board, 2003); and A. Desai, V. Padayachee, (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2002). 5 Luckin, History ofSouthAfrican Cricket, 803-806. 6 Ibid., 807-814. 7 Ibid., 156-162. 8 Lord Hawke, Recollections and Reminiscences (London: Williams & Norgate, 1924), 158. 9 Luckin, History ofSouthAfrican Cricket, 55-62. 10 Widely known as the 'Boer War' in Britain, the nomenclature developed into the 'Anglo-Boer War' to reflect the Boer perspective; 'South African War' later reflected the involvement of blacks. It is estimated that 12 000 black Africans lost their lives in the war that also took 25 000 Boer and 22 000 British lives: see T. Pakenham, The Boer War (Jonathan Ball: Jeppestown, 1997), xv. 11 F. Pretorius, DieAnglo-Boereoorlog 1899-1902 (Cape Town: Stroik Publishers, 1998), 49 ff. 12 Very few successful escapes were made by Boer K Reddy and G. Vahed, Blacks in Whites:A Century ofCricket Struggles in KwaZulu-Natal

prisoners of war. The most celebrated escape occurred in the early morning of 14 January