Empire Cricket Booklet

MORE THAN A GAME

An important difference existed in that professionals were able to play for England but black South African cricketers were barred from representative and Test cricket. There again, racism in sport was not confined to South Africa. England's failure to select the Indian prince, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, for the First Test against Australia at Lord's in 1896 is well documented in full biographies of the cricketer. Elsewhere in the British empire, there are examples of indigenous peoples who hoped sport would provide opportunities for assimilation into the dominant society but whose hopes were dashed by white selection committees. Two Aborigine players of that time - Alec Henry (Queensland 1902-1905) and Jack Marsh (New South Wales 1900-1903) were kept out of national consideration by 'being branded unreliable and a chucker'. 2 1 Marsh in particular was outstanding, capturing 34 wickets in six matches for New South Wales at an average of 21.47. An Australian cricketer, Dr Les Poidevin, wrote of Marsh at the time he was omitted from the side to tour England in 1905: 'He is certainly a marvel with the ball . .. But you will not see him because the absurd White Australia policy has touched or tainted the hearts of the rulers of cricket, as it has the political rulers.' 22 Ironically, Australia's first black Test cricketer, Sam Morris, was of West Indian heritage. Perhaps his selection - for one Test during the 1884/85 season - was acceptable because it did not interfere with a colonial government's efforts to suppress its own ethnic groups. Cecil John Rhodes was concerned by the geo politics of power: a strong Afrikaner dominated South African Republic (more commonly known as the Transvaal) posed a potential threat to British supremacy by controlling the largest goldfield in the world. 'The discovery of gold,' wrote Albert Grundlingh, 'not only brought about a reorientation of the internal political and socio-economic order, but in the 1890s it would also bring relations with Great Britain to breaking point.' 2 3 With Colonial Office connivance, Rhodes sought to thwart the South African Republic's expansionist plans to the Gold and the South A 1c n P 0 oubl"c

and degree' and was certainly a source that was utilised by the Western Province cricket authorities. 18 But, in the South African context, the Hendricks decision was made specifically as part of the broader ideology which ensured that the racial boundaries which were to determine the overall structure of the developing economy were set for the future. This was by no means a foregone conclusion. Ironically, through the linking of cricket and race, the politics of Natal while ostensibly less 'liberal' than the Cape, exceptionally enabled 'Buck' Llewellyn, a player with the same antecedents as Hendricks, to play for his province and for South Africa. While formally, black cricketers' opportunities (with the exception of Llewellyn) were non-existent, in practice black cricket was a constant presence. Leading Cape cricketers of colour were employed as bowlers to provide white batsmen with practice in a manner not unlike English professionals delivering to their amateurs who batted because 'bowlers were the drudges'. 19 There were some fine players amongst the Cape professionals and during the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour in 1905/06, the English captain Pelham Warner had a net practice in which C. J. Nicholls, 'a young Malay with a fast left-hand action hit my middle stump nearly every other ball'. 20 If race was a factor in all of this, so also was class. In England, the amateurs had little incommon with the professionals; they often stayed in different hotels, used separate change-rooms; walked on to the field of play through separate entrances, and travelled first-class on the railways while professionals went third-class. It was a callous system in which few clubs bothered to provide lunches for the professionals - they were expected to purchase a sandwich at the bar. The issue of professionals and amateurs was also a key aspect of the South African cricketing experience. Discussion of the googly bowlers who rose to prominence in the post-South African War period, demonstrates this issue has much to do with the development of cricketing relations between South Africa, Australia and England in the first decade of the twentieth century. In England, it was not until 1952 that a professional, Len Hutton, was appointed as captain in the face of widespread opposition from the cricketing establishment.