Edging Towards Darkness: The story of the last timeless Test
Page 22
backlash against here
end of here
in England here, here
Hammond and here, here, here
Swanton on here, here
in West Indies here, here
see also Durban (timeless) Test
Tindill, Eric here
Transvaal match, Johannesburg here
Triangular Tournament here
Valentine, Bryan here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here, here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here, here, here, here
1939 season here
and 1938–40 MCC India tour party here
van der Bijl, Pieter here, here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here
van der Merwe, Peter here
Verity, Hedley here, here, here, here, here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here, here, here, here, here, here, here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
1939 season here, here
County Championship match, Hove (1939) here
death of here
Viljoen, Ken here, here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here, here, here, here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here
Vogler, Ernie here
Wade, Billy here
Wade, Herbert here, here, here
Warner, Pelham here, here, here
West Indies here
1939 tour of England here, here, here
Sabina Park Test match (1930) here
Western Province Country District XI, South Africa here
White, Gordon here
wickets here, here, here, here
Kingsmead, Durban here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Oval here, here
Salisbury, Rhodesia here
South African here, here, here, here
Triangular Tournament here
Wilkinson, Len here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here, here, here
Windsor Castle (steamship): South Africa’s voyage home on here
Wood, Arthur here
Woodrooffe, Thomas here
Wooldridge, Ian here
Woolley, Frank here, here, here
World Test Championship here, here
Wright, Doug here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here
Wyatt, Bob here, here, here
Yardley, Norman here, here, here
5th (timeless) Test, Durban here
1938–39 MCC tour of South Africa here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and 1938–40 MCC India tour party here
Plates
Walter Hammond (centre) shakes hands with the mayor of Southampton before sailing for the Cape, watched by Pelham Warner (left), chairman of the selectors. Behind them (l–r) Doug Wright, Reg Perks, Ken Farnes and Hedley Verity form a quartet of bowlers.
The 1938–39 MCC party in South Africa. Back, l–r: Bill Edrich, Doug Wright, Eddie Paynter, Bill Ferguson (scorer). Middle: Len Wilkinson, Hedley Verity, Hugh Bartlett, Tom Goddard, Reg Perks, Len Hutton, Paul Gibb. Front: C. R. Ridgway (South African manager), Ken Farnes, Norman Yardley, Walter Hammond (captain), Les Ames, Bryan Valentine, Jack Holmes (manager).
The Western Province Country District XI take the field for the opening game of the tour at the Strand, Cape Town, where MCC won by an innings and 342 runs.
Yorkshire’s Len Hutton (left) and Paul Gibb open the England innings on the first day of the second Test at Newlands. Hutton missed the first Test at the Wanderers after being knocked unconscious by a bouncer from Transvaal’s Eric Davies days earlier.
Alan Melville leads out the South Africans at Newlands, followed down the pavilion steps by the vice-captain, Bruce Mitchell.
England regularly drew huge crowds, and 10,000 packed the ground to capacity for the second day’s play at Newlands on 2 January 1939.
The spiky Eric Rowan struck an unbeaten 89 in South Africa’s second innings at Newlands. The journalist Louis Duffus wrote that his success was founded on ‘70 per cent cocksureness and 30 per cent ability’.
Newlands, one of cricket’s wonders of the world, in all its splendour during the tea interval on day three.
Kent’s Bryan Valentine was one of three England centurions in the second Test. A carefree batsman, Wisden recorded that his 112 contained so many strokes ‘it almost amounted to recklessness’.
Reg Perks (left), Bryan Valentine and Eddie Paynter soak up the sun on one of South Africa’s many dazzling beaches.
Hedley Verity, the left-arm spinner and fulcrum of England’s bowling attack, photographed in 1938.
Alan Melville’s Springboks walk out for the start of the third Test at Kingsmead, after Walter Hammond won the toss on the seventh successive occasion as England captain.
Norman Gordon appeals successfully for leg-before against Len Hutton (31); Paul Gibb, in the headband, is the batsman at the other end.
Eddie Paynter dispatches a ball from Eric Dalton to the boundary on his way to a commanding 243 at Kingsmead. Hammond, who shared in a stand of 242 for the third wicket with him, watches approvingly.
England prized the wicket of Bruce Mitchell above all South Africans. He was his country’s top run-scorer during the series with 466, including a magnificent 109 in the third Test.
On the mighty Zambezi above Victoria Falls. l-r: Bill Ferguson, MCC scorer, C. R. Ridgway, South African manager, Louis Duffus, cricket correspondent for the Natal Daily News, and Hedley Verity (leaning forward); Eddie Paynter and Doug Wright are closest to the camera.
High jinks on the golf course. Among the England players are Walter Hammond (first left), Bryan Valentine and Les Ames (third and fourth left); Hutton is behind Ames, and Paul Gibb is first from the right, next to E. W. Swanton, who was covering the tour for the BBC.
Pitch inspection during the rain-ravaged fourth Test at the Wanderers. l-r: Hedley Verity, Bruce Mitchell, Alan Melville, Eric Dalton, ‘Chud’ Langton and ‘Bob’ Newson.
The versatile Langton produced the best figures by a pace bowler in the series: five for 58 to dismiss England for 215 on the opening day of the fourth Test.
The South African team for the timeless Test in Durban. Back, lr: E. A. Deavin (manager), Eric Rowan, ‘Chud’ Langton, Pieter van der Bijl, ‘Bob’ Newson, Ronnie Grieveson, Norman Gordon. Front: Ken Viljoen, Bruce Mitchell (vicecaptain), Alan Melville (captain), Eric Dalton, Dudley Nourse.
Ronnie Grieveson formed a potent alliance with Eric Dalton (below), twice stumping Hammond off the all-rounder’s leg-breaks during the timeless Test. His 75 in South Africa’s first innings was the highest score by a wicket-keeper in a debut Test innings at that point.
Natal’s Dalton contributed a sparkling half-century and six wickets.
Reg Perks excelled on his Test debut at Kingsmead, returning figures of five for 100 from 41 overs in South Africa’s first innings, often matching Ken Farnes for speed.
The dapper Ken Viljoen not only made two visits to the barber’s during the timeless Test; he also stroked an elegant 74 in South Africa’s second innings.
Bill Edrich ended one of Test cricket’s most fraught baptisms when he hit 219 – an innings partly fuelled by champagne – after England chased 696 for victory at Kingsmead.
Edrich edges Norman Gordon through the slips during his marathon knock.
Opening batsman Pieter van der Bijl goes on the attack against England’s tiring bowlers. He missed out by three runs on becoming the first South African to score two centuries in a Test.
Doug Wright’s leg-breaks proved expensive at Kingsmead, but his ab
ility to conjure the occasional shock delivery served England well.
The muscular Dudley Nourse deserted his attacking principles during the timeless Test, reaching a painstaking century in six hours and four minutes.
Les Ames’s work behind the stumps at Kingsmead was a triumph of sustained focus and skill, taking two catches and conceding only six byes.
‘Bob’ Newson of Transvaal was South Africa’s most economical bowler in Durban, delivering 68.6 overs at a cost of 149 runs.
Eddie Paynter, all 5 foot 4 inches of him, batted with a tall man’s stride and was England’s leading run-scorer in the series, hitting 653 at 81.62.
The immaculate Hedley Verity bowled 766 balls (95.6 overs) in the timeless Test, capturing four wickets for 184 runs and rarely strayed from a good length.
Frozen for all time, the amazing Kingsmead scoreboard after the final curtain. The two not out batsmen were Ames (17) and Valentine (4); the last man dismissed was Hammond for 140.
Ken Farnes (left) and Hedley Verity (right) are greeted by Farnes’s father at Waterloo Station on MCC’s return from South Africa.
Worcestershire’s Reg Perks proudly shows off an assegai while his wife looks on.
Walter Hammond (left) appears to have an animated conversation with a member of the public after the team’s arrival at Waterloo Station from Southampton.
Norman Gordon took instantly to Test cricket, establishing himself as the leading wicket-taker in the series with 20, pipping Hedley Verity by one.
He was also the first Test cricketer to reach a century in years and celebrates the landmark with help from Mike Procter (right) and Fanie de Villiers on 6 August 2011.
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First published 2017
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