×

South Africa vs England 1905-06: All round strength gives the hosts the series 4-1

A test that saw South African No.11 hammer 62 and one of their primary batsmen wind things up with a 4-wicket haul against a visiting England side.

Related articles

April 2, 1906. The all-round strength of South Africa proved too much for England as the hosts stretched their first ever Test win to a 4-1 series triumph. Arunabha Sengupta writes about the match that saw the South African No. 11 hammer 62 and one of their primary batsmen wind things up with a 4-wicket haul.

 All-round strength

The encouraging victory in the fourth Test had perhaps raised hopes of a resurgence.

After the sensational first Test, the hosts had routed Plum Warner’s men in the second and third Tests at Johannesburg. When the sides had reached Cape Town, the air had been rife with predictions of a 5-0 whitewash.

However, on the matting surface stretched on grass rather than sand, Colin Blythe had spun the ball more effectively than the googly bowlers and England had at last put one across the Springboks. The spirits in the English camp did soar for a while. The series was lost, but the end result could look a lot better with another gritty performance.

Alas! The cricketers from Old Blighty were no match for the local force of the southern land.

It was not the googly bowlers who made the difference, although they did play their parts. The South African side was just way too strong.

They batted till the very last man. In fact, in this Test, the last man top scored for the Springboks.

Gordon White was a batsman rather than a googly bowler, and a fantastic batsman at that. Aubrey Faulkner had proved to be a superb all-rounder, and with time would develop into one of the all-time greats. Reggie Schwarz too was extremely handy with the bat low down the order. The last googly bowler in the line-up, Bertie Vogler, came in at the fall of the ninth wicket. And he would prove that he was as good a bat as any by top scoring in this Test and thus taking the match way out of the English grip.

As for the faster men, Jimmy Sinclair could wreck a batting side with incisive bowling. He also had three Test hundreds under his belt, along with the ability to turn matches with a few big hits. Tip Snooke, his new ball partner, had taken 12 wickets in the third Test, would lead the wickets tally in the series and would score a delightful 60 in this match.

Both openers, Louis Tancred and William Shalders, could bowl effectively. And Dave Nourse, who had been one of the mainstays of the South African batting, would crush the middle-order in the second innings of this Test with four quick wickets.

With almost every player demonstrating versatile all-round skills, England were purely overmatched.

Young Jack Crawford had the potential to be a similar weapon. He boasted heroics with the bat and flashes of brilliance with the ball. He did score an impeccable 74 in this Test, finishing next only to Frederick Fane in the miserable batting figures of the side in the series. However, the general verdict was that he was too prone to lose length and accuracy on the matting wickets providing encouraging lift and turn.

Albert Relf was another handy all-rounder but did not really excel in either department.

The batting of the visitors cut sorry figures, with the primary batsmen hardly ever coming off — Warner managing just 89 runs at 8.90, Dave Denton 172 at 17.02 and Leo Moon 182 at 22.75. Only Fane managed decent figures of 342 runs at 38.00 while Crawford’s forays to the crease, often as an opener, got him 281 at 31.22.

Walter Lees and Colin Blythe did bowl as well as the South African counterparts, but their efforts were unsupported across departments.

The South Africans, in contrast, performed as a team. They could afford to field the same eleven in the entire series.

Flattering to deceive again

The final Test started with Warner winning the toss. But that was about all that he did in the entire match.

Crawford played out a maiden from Snooke and the first ball from Schwarz turned in and crashed into the captain’s stumps. Five runs later, Denton played down the wrong line to Snooke and was bowled.

5 for 2. Almost all the momentum gathered from the victorious fourth Test had been lost within the space of six minutes.

But Crawford was young enough to fight back without being bogged down by despondency. He cut and glided the ball well to score runs briskly. When the rare ball was pitched up he forced it away past the fielders on the off-side, showing immaculate knack for timing. Fane, who had shown supreme form in the previous Tests, batted with plenty of assurance.

85 were put on in just over an hour. The scoreboard was looking respectable. That was when the immense depth of South African bowling came to the fore.

Vogler was given the ball, and bowled Fane with a googly. Within a few minutes, he had sent back Moon as well, trapping him leg-before. Lunch was taken at 129 for 4, Crawford on 70.

It had not been a bad morning’s play. Helped by the brilliant young Surrey all-rounder, England were still contesting on equal terms. However, the post-lunch session changed all that.

Captain Percy Sherwell started with Sinclair and Snooke, opting for pace after the break. And at 74, Crawford ended his innings by edging a Sinclair delivery on to his stumps.

Relf, as always, made useful runs but did not manage to raise his score to the region of major significance. He was caught fending Sinclair for 25. Wicketkeeper Jack Broad made a few forceful strokes before being brilliantly caught by Nourse at mid-on from a heave off Snooke. The ball was travelling, and Nourse took it high with a fully stretched left-hand.

With Ernie Hayes running a temperature, John Hartley had been chosen ahead of Shrimp Leveson Gower because of his abilities as a slip fielder. He would stand in the slips all through the South African innings without being offered a catch. Out to bat, he quickly ran himself out.

Sinclair made quick work of the tail, finishing with 4 for 45 and the England innings was over at 187.

Crawford strikes back

It was yet another disappointing performance by the England batsmen, but by the end of the day it did seem that a close match was on the cards.

After Tancred and Shalders had hit 45 in half an hour, England struck back. It was the splendid Crawford in the thick of it again.

Tancred did not time his pull and Moon brought off a neat catch at short leg. Seven runs later, Shalders drove one straight back to Crawford.

It was the fantastic pair of Nourse and White at the crease once again. But this time fortune seemed to be leaning England’s way. Walter Lees made one jump from length. It took the shoulder of White’s bat and lobbed to Crawford at second slip. It seemed one could not keep the young man out of the game. White walked back for just 11.

For a brief while, play was adjourned as the big fir trees cast a shadow across the pitch. But as the sun hid itself behind the Table Mountain the game was resumed.

A run later Blythe had turned one just enough to get the snick from Maitland Hathorn and Broad held a splendid catch. 66 for 4 and England were right back in the game. Four best batsmen had been dismissed within the course of seven overs.

And now Nourse was missed at the wicket off Lees. Aided by this piece of luck, he and Sinclair saw the hosts to stumps, the score reading 87 for 4.

 Vogler Valour

As the sun smiled down on the ground the following morning, 10,000 spectators gathered to enjoy a keen battle. And it did promise to be keen, as immediately on resumption Blythe pitched one up to york Sinclair at the overnight score.

87 for 5. It could be said that England had the upper hand. In normal circumstances. Not with a team that batted as deep as South Africa.

Nourse and Faulkner stitched together a stubborn partnership. It was again Crawford who ran in to provide the breakthrough, Nourse caught at second slip.

However, at 140 for 6, Snooke walked in to strike the ball with plenty of poise. He was helped by Crawford sending down two full pitches and a slow long hop on the trot. All were dispatched to the boundary. Faulkner, steady and fluent on the off-side this time, stayed at the wicket for an hour and twenty minutes before Relf got him with a ball into the body. However, South Africa were far from done.

Schwarz provided Snooke with some stubborn company as the latter proved once again that he could be as elegant as a top order batsman. The lead was taken and extended. After almost an hour Relf got Schwarz caught at second slip, and the score read 226 for 8.

When Snooke fell for a brilliant 60, out to an incoming delivery from Relf, the England side trailed by 52, with just one wicket to topple. By no means a hopeless position.

However, at this moment, in walked Vogler.

In the hour and quarter that followed, the large crowd got their money’s worth in full. Captain Sherwell stood serenely at one end while the leg-spinner gave free rein to his bat. The hitting was immense. On three occasions the ball was hit over the Ring for sixes, once an enormous straight drive soared over the trees into an adjoining field. In the brief interludes between these gigantic strokes, Sherwell played a few neat late-cuts.

England were despairing and the stand was worth 94 when Sherwell heaved at Lees and Blythe at mid-on caught it magnificently with his outstretched right hand. The captain was out for 30, and Vogler remained unbeaten on 62 made with five fours and three sixes. The delighted crowd passed the hat around and collected £47 13s 9d for this excellent innings.

Capitulation

The South African innings thus amounted to 333. And this final stand had put the game beyond England. Sadly, Lees seemed to have lost the edge that had proved to be so incisive in the previous Tests and Schofield Haigh lacked penetration and spin. Even Blythe’s excellent spells were punctuated by a few long hops which released the pressure. Relf bowled superbly, but was done by the lack of support at the other end.

The second England innings was started by Moon and Crawford. Warner had demoted himself down the order. It worked to an extent. After starts of 6, 3, 2, 0, 7, 3, 0, 5 and 0, the openers now put on 33. Moon struck the ball sweetly and Crawford too looked good before Snooke knocked down his off-stump with a ball that kept low.

With Denton looking good once again, England cruised to 62 for 1, when the variety of South African attack had its say again. Vogler bowled Denton with a googly and Moon was trapped leg-before by Sinclair within a run of each other. Fane and Relf batted with plenty of purpose to take the score into the 90s when another surprise move ended all resistance.

Nourse was given the ball, perhaps as a final roll of the dice before the end of the day’s play. And within a short span of time his deceptive left-arm medium paced deliveries had castled Fane and night-watchman Broad. It was an unwilling Warner who had to come in and play till the stumps. It was 103 for 5 at close of play.

The next day, the 10.35 train brought 500 spectators to the ground. A further 500 arrived on the next train at 11.05. But all they saw were 27 runs and a meek surrender. Some caught only the sight of players walking off the ground.

Pushing himself down the order did nothing to help Warner’s fortunes. He batted doggedly, stayed at the wicket for 50 minutes, but could score only 4.

Sherwell started the proceedings with Nourse and Schwarz and immediately tasted success. Nourse pegged back the stumps of Relf without any addition to the score. He meted out the same dismissal to Lees.

Hartley and Haigh were flummoxed by Schwarz googlies. And Warner, after a long painful struggle,  was the last wicket to fall. England were all out for 130. The hosts won by an innings and 16 runs, taking the series 4-1.

Graciously, Warner submitted that the better eleven had won.

South Africa had been stronger in batting, stronger in bowling and quite as strong in fielding. “It would be hard indeed to name a side which could boast so many good batsmen,” he wrote. “In the history of the game there must be few elevens which can boast of better batsmen at 9, 10, 11 than Schwarz, Sherwell and Vogler… But if the batting was powerful the bowling was almost equally so. The only men who did not bowl were Sherwell and Hathorn.”

Yes, it was all-round strength that had proved the difference, and this early South African side was a template for their great all-rounder filled sides down the years.

Brief scores:

England 187 (Jack Crawford 74; Jimmy Sinclair 4 for 45) and 130 (Dave Nourse 4 for 25) lost to South Africa 333 (Aubrey Faulkner 45, Sibley Snooke 60, Bertie Vogler 62*) by an innings and 16 runs.

(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history of cricket, with occasional statistical pieces and reflections on the modern game. He is also the author of four novels, the most recent being Sherlock Holmes and the Birth of The Ashes. He tweets here.)

trending this week