Empire Cricket Booklet

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'OLD CADDY' AND 'KROM' HENDRICKS

one of the country's leading batsmen, Murray Bisset, for a duck. 69 Frank Robb, the Woodstock chairman, saw it as an opportune moment for his club to confront the WPCU. His plan of action was initially to forward a letter to the Cape Times under the pseudonym, 'Fairplay'. He argued that circumstances had altered since the resolution had been passed. The letter stated: 'The Union has by its own action put aside the objection to colour by admitting to affiliation and to competition in the championship, clubs who number among their members coloured players.' He added: 'With Hendricks at one end the whole of the Woodstock bowling was improved'. Robb believed that there was a'strong feeling, rightly or wrongly, on the part of the public that Hendricks is not receiving fair treatment at the hands of the Union'. He pleaded for coloured players to be included in championship matches, noting that Simon's Town and the Docks were in the same predicament. 70 The WPCU was not sympathetic.Simkins complained that 'someone was guilty of a grave error in having selected Hendricks for the All-Comers'. He thought the WPCU should use all means at their disposal to ensure that the two classes 'be kept distinctly sepa rate'. It was a powerful indication of the direction in which cricket at the Cape was moving. The language of official racist ideologies was ominously present in the statements of committee members. Smuts stated: 'It was all good and well in some countries to talk of cricket as a levelling institution but here circumstances were so very different.' 'Vollie' van der Bijl said the selector of the composite side would, if given his way, have chosen three players of colour, but claimed if three were chosen 'probably the other eight would not have played'. Maynard Nash, who had succeeded Cadwallader as the secretary of the SACA, argued that 'rescinding the ruling would work the greatest harm to the game in the country. We must look to the future as well as the present.' 71 The future of cricket at the Cape, it seemed, was tied to the government's policy of segregation. Men such as the president John Reid, long-serving C. Neumann Thomas and the young Bisset were firmly in support of the lead that Simkins had provided,

in matches other than championship fixtures, and no coloured professional or member shall be allowed to compete in championship matches.' 66 The term 'championship' came to be used more loosely than the resolution had originally implied, resulting in Hendricks being considered unwelcome to play in any match of consequence. One fixture that the Union did not cater for was a non-championship inter-club encounter between the Cape Town Cricket Club and Woodstock in November 1896. The match was expected to be one-sided, because Cape Town was one of the city's premier clubs whilst Woodstock was a struggling team with no provincial contenders. It was nevertheless billed as one in which 'the two fastest bowlers in the Western Province' - Joseph Willoughby and Hendricks - were on show. There was further incentive for Hendricks to shine: he had made an earlier attempt to join the Cape Town Cricket Club, but had not been accepted. Woodstock were 'powerless' against Willoughby who captured 7 for 7 in a total of 47. It placed pressure on Hendricks to perform and he did, taking 8 wickets for 32 runs. 'It was a remarkable performance,' said the Cape Times, 'considering the class of batsmen.' His victims included five players - Charles Prince, Howard Francis, Stanley Horwood, Frank Hearne and Willoughby - who represented South Africa at various times. The most spectacular aspect of his performance was that he hit the stumps on seven occasions, a feat that Willoughby managed twice. 67 Cape Town's cricket followers wanted to see more of Hendricks. When Milton left the Cape to take up an appointment in Rhodesia, a brave decision gave Hendricks a chance in October 1897. 68 He was chosen for an All-Comers XI to play against the Western Province Cricket Club. It was noted that the fast bowler 'had been creating havoc in the lower leagues' and an unusually large crowd of 1 600 surrounded the field at Milton's former club. Hendricks did not let them down and in 21.3 overs of sustained pace he captured 6 for 20. His first wicket was that of Western Province batsman Allan Reid, bowled for 6, and he followed this up by shattering the stumps of