Empire Cricket Booklet

RICHARD PARRY

two teams to help finance their tours. The match was reported in full by both the Daily Ind ep endent and the Diamond Fields Advertiser. The latter described it as 'one of the jolliest all day matches of the season' and was positively impressed, although it could not avoid patronising the dazzling and'gorgeous display of the many coloured silks and satins worn by dusky beauties'. 66 The comment is a telling indication of where race relations stood in Kimberley. Although this culture was that of a major part of the population, it remained exotic to many white inhabitants and invisible to the dominant culture in general. It took organised activities such as cricket or the Khalifa for whites to notice its existence. It is not surprising that the black population strove so hard to achieve visibility through cricket. Finlason's side contained several players who would represent Kimberley in the forthcoming tournament, including George Glover who would also represent South Africa on the 1894 tour to England, but the XI was given a run for its money. Kimberley won the first two innings game by five wickets but saw Robert Grendon, bowling medium-paced leg breaks, take 7/78 in the first innings and pouch two excellent catches at point. Grendon and Armein Hendricks also contributed with the bat, making 19 and 31 and 21 and 65 respectively. Onlookers were particularly impressed by Grendon, who cut and glided Hill, the Kimberley quick, to the fence off successive balls, the superb wicket-keeping of Palmer and the excellent fielding of the team. The harmony of the occasion was emphasised by the fact that both teams sat down together to a 'capital luncheon' following the game, a 'new departure' significant in the context of community relations in Kimberley but also no doubt a means of increasing profits from the enterprise. 67 The return match was very high scoring affair. Finlason's side made 301/5, with George Glover hitting his second consecutive 50. Grendon fell early in the Red Crescent reply but, with Hendricks making 95 and Vogt 68, the team fell a mere 40 runs short. Kimberley, it was predicted, had an excellent chance of winning the tournament in Port Elizabeth. 68 Kimberley's Red Crescent was successful as expected. Grendon annihilated Uitenhage with fi gu res of

The 1890 tournament, which was organised by Abdol Burns (who was later to co-operate with Kimberley in the next such event), was notable for being played at Newlands, the home of establishment cricket, and the Western Province and English professional, Frank Hearne, was one of the umpires. The event was attended by a large crowd of spectators. The Cape Town Union side included L. Samsodien, who was to make a name for himself by scoring 50 against Read's 1891/92 tourists, and E. Ariefdien, who would put in a remarkable performance in the Kimberley tournament in 1891. In the final match of a low-scoring but exciting tournament, Johannesburg required 26 to win against Cape Town and were all out for 23, thanks to Ariefdien's haul of 5/6. Claremont won both of their matches and Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Union won one each. 63 This was followed in April by Transvaal's challenge to Kimberley for the Currie Cup in the first such match to be played. Not only did this mean the return of Aubrey Smith and Monty Bowden to Kimberley as members of the Transvaal team, the latter being the undisputed star, but also ex-Kimberleyites Charlie Vintcent, Tom Dixon and even Charles Finlason. The latter presumably was suffering a conflict of loyalty, as he had only endured a miserable few months in Klerksdorp, and he was generally ignored by his nemesis Aubrey Smith. 64 He batted at 11 and was bowled by George Glover for 2. He also failed to take a wicket. In a remarkable match of two batsmen, Bowden (63 and 126 not out in totals of 117 and 224/4 respectively) and Tancred (42 and 106 out of 98 and 235 respectively), Transvaal won by six wickets. 65 By the following season, Finlason had returned to Kimberley and in December captained a powerful scratch Kimberley XI against Kimberley's Red Crescent Club in two matches. While white teams playing coloured opposition was not entirely unprecedented in Kimberley - in the previous year a scratch XI had played the Malay Universal Cricket Club - this year the competition was far stiffer. The main purpose of the game was to assist in financing the teams preparing for the first regional tournament planned for Port Elizabeth in January 1891 and the last Champion's Bat competition in Cape Town at the same time. The gate money was to be given to the