SA Domestic History

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Chris Duckworth above was also a wk who played two Tests for SA and played with David Lewis for Rhodesia. So odd when you later had Duckworth & Lewis.

Natal obviously got back on the map winning the Castle Cup in 94/95 & 96/97. The first wins since Mike Procter's class of 80/81 as they had a bunch of Proteas or Proteas to be again in Hudson, Stewart, Rhodes, Klusener, S. Pollock, Symcox + quality senior quicks in Marshall & Rawson. Along with other youngsters Neil Johnson and much like Mark Rushmere at EP, Dale Benkenstein was dubbed a future SA captain.

They then won in 2001/02 again & lost the 2003/04 final and you had your Amla brothers, Jon Kent, Dougie Watson playing with senior players like Rhodes, Benkenstein, Stewart, Klusener quite a bit.

 

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Also on Chris Wilkins. Was surprised he wasn't selected to play against DH Robins teams in the 70s as he was regularly in the 1st and 2nd XI best of the best games and rated highly by his bigger name peers.

Remember reading Garth Le Roux say, only 2 people ever hit him back over his head for 6. Chris Wilkins and Viv Richards.

 

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In the 1950s WP basically provided captains like Cheetham and Van Ryneveld of note. Vd Merwe was similar but was EP for the 65/66 England tour win as captain.

But in those times I guess they played their part as professionalism wasn't really a thing yet.

 

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Then Eddie Barlow walked in and with Andre Bruyns and Hylton Ackerman + 1 or 2 others like Chevalier, Swart, Morris, Bowditch started to add your Hobson's, Kirsten's, Le Roux's, Lamb's, , Kuiper's, Jefferies' and things were starting to change.

Love this interview and the awe Tony Borrington speaks with about how Barlow was before his time and how he changed his and Derbyshire's cricketing mind-set (like he did with WP) with a positive brand of cricket and taking fitness levels to new heights that Hylton Ackerman and Allan Lamb found tough to start

 

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Chris Duckworth above was also a wk who played two Tests for SA and played with David Lewis for Rhodesia. So odd when you later had Duckworth & Lewis.

Natal obviously got back on the map winning the Castle Cup in 94/95 & 96/97. The first wins since Mike Procter's class of 80/81 as they had a bunch of Proteas or Proteas to be again in Hudson, Stewart, Rhodes, Klusener, S. Pollock, Symcox + quality senior quicks in Marshall & Rawson. Along with other youngsters Neil Johnson and much like Mark Rushmere at EP, Dale Benkenstein was dubbed a future SA captain.

They then won in 2001/02 again & lost the 2003/04 final and you had your Amla brothers, Jon Kent, Dougie Watson playing with senior players like Rhodes, Benkenstein, Stewart, Klusener quite a bit.

Stewart also a good rugby player too, perhaps unlucky never to become a Springbok international.

 

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Best WP team
75/76 when Wessels was down for a season.
Barlow , Bruyns, Ackerman, P Kirsten, Lamb, Wessels, Morris, Swart, Le Roux, Pfuhl (wk), Hobson

81/82 & 82/83 & into the 80s
Gooch, Seeff, P Kirsten, Lamb/Pienaar, McEwan, Kuiper, Le Roux, Jefferies, Emburey/Henry, Ryall (wk), Hobson

90/91
Seeff, G Kirsten, Jackson, Cullinan, McMillan, Kuiper, Simons, C Matthews, Rundle, Ryall (wk), Pringle

Mid 90s
G Kirsten, Haynes, Ackerman, Kallis, Commins, Gibbs, Koenig
McMillan, Simons
Paul Kirsten (wk)
Matthews, Pringle, Schultz, A Martyn, Dawson
Rundle, Adams

Early 2000s
G Smith, Gibbs, G Kirsten, Kallis, Prince, N Johnson, Tsolekile (wk), Dawson, C Henderson, Adams, Willoughby
Reserve: Puttick, Ackerman, Duminy, Telemachus, Q Friend, Philander & R Kleinveldt

 

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Best WP team
75/76 when Wessels was down for a season.
Barlow , Bruyns, Ackerman, P Kirsten, Lamb, Wessels, Morris, Swart, Le Roux, Pfuhl (wk), Hobson

81/82 & 82/83 & into the 80s
Gooch, Seeff, P Kirsten, Lamb/Pienaar, McEwan, Kuiper, Le Roux, Jefferies, Emburey/Henry, Ryall (wk), Hobson

90/91
Seeff, G Kirsten, Jackson, Cullinan, McMillan, Kuiper, Simons, C Matthews, Rundle, Ryall (wk), Pringle

Mid 90s
G Kirsten, Haynes, Ackerman, Kallis, Commins, Gibbs, Koenig
McMillan, Simons
Paul Kirsten (wk)
Matthews, Pringle, Schultz, A Martyn, Dawson
Rundle, Adams

Early 2000s
G Smith, Gibbs, G Kirsten, Kallis, Prince, N Johnson, Tsolekile (wk), Dawson, C Henderson, Adams, Willoughby
Reserve: Puttick, Ackerman, Duminy, Telemachus, Q Friend, Philander & R Kleinveldt

Tricky one. I'd probably say the 90/91 side is the less strong of the five. Still a class side though with McMillan/Kuiper/Simons providing great balance to the side.

Mid 90s I'd put 4th. Kallis and Gibbs being early career when Schultz was there makes it look better on paper than in practice. An opening pair that was better than most international sides, good all-rounders and bowling in general still makes it very good though.

It's very difficult to compare the isolation era sides with the early 2000s side as the former consistently had access to their best players whereas the latter didn't due to international constraints. Even still, the latter had tremendous stength in depth and could still put out a very good side even when they didn't have their tremendous first-choice batting order. In that sense they were very similar to the Surrey side of the same era in the County Championship.

Even still I think the early-mid 80s side probably balances it's star quality a bit better. Gooch was only there for a couple of seasons but that was a quality opening pair when he was. Any middle order with both Kirsten and McEwan is going to be very good; when Lamb was there too it was outstanding. Kuiper very good as the all-rounder. A genuinely Test-class bowling attack follows with Le Roux and Jefferies both high class strike bowlers (the latter only for a few years but these were those few years). The spin attack was exceptional too. This side were highly unlucky to have coincided with one of the greatest domestic sides of all-time; the Transvaal Mean Machine. They did very well to lift two Currie Cups in that period and I think they were the best WP side of all.

The mid 70s side compete with early 00s for second and I wouldn't want to make a judgement one way or the other there. They are very close.

 

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Tricky one. I'd probably say the 90/91 side is the less strong of the five. Still a class side though with McMillan/Kuiper/Simons providing great balance to the side.

Mid 90s I'd put 4th. Kallis and Gibbs being early career when Schultz was there makes it look better on paper than in practice. An opening pair that was better than most international sides, good all-rounders and bowling in general still makes it very good though.

It's very difficult to compare the isolation era sides with the early 2000s side as the former consistently had access to their best players whereas the latter didn't due to international constraints. Even still, the latter had tremendous stength in depth and could still put out a very good side even when they didn't have their tremendous first-choice batting order. In that sense they were very similar to the Surrey side of the same era in the County Championship.

Even still I think the early-mid 80s side probably balances it's star quality a bit better. Gooch was only there for a couple of seasons but that was a quality opening pair when he was. Any middle order with both Kirsten and McEwan is going to be very good; when Lamb was there too it was outstanding. Kuiper very good as the all-rounder. A genuinely Test-class bowling attack follows with Le Roux and Jefferies both high class strike bowlers (the latter only for a few years but these were those few years). The spin attack was exceptional too. This side were highly unlucky to have coincided with one of the greatest domestic sides of all-time; the Transvaal Mean Machine. They did very well to lift two Currie Cups in that period and I think they were the best WP side of all.

The mid 70s side compete with early 00s for second and I wouldn't want to make a judgement one way or the other there. They are very close.

Agree with much of it. Probably argue more strongly for the mid 90s team with suçh seamer depth. At one stage Aubrey Martyn was a left-arm quick who was ahead of Schultz.

If it wasn't for Barlow adding the extra seam option you would probably have to say the 75/76 team was below it but such a good top 6 and then 2 very decent all-rounders in Richard Morris and Peter Swart balances things.

I think that's where we've been lucky is all-rounders through the decades. Often had the option of playing 2 spinners at Newlands.

I wonder how many people know Kenny Jackson is Jonathan Trott's half brother? Trott's old man played club cricket with my dad and then he was my coach at school. Still laugh how in the crowd for Jonathan's first test match hundred he was wearing that Rondebosch Cap he always wore at school.

 

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Stewart also a good rugby player too, perhaps unlucky never to become a Springbok international.

There has been a few very good dual rugby union and cricket players. Errol Stewart, Eddie Barlow (Transvaal centre), Peter Kirsten (WP fly-half). Of course Tuppy Owen-Smith & Clive van Ryneveld both captained England. Kim Elgie played for Scotland. Herschelle Gibbs would have in a different time.

Roy McLean also played rugby for Natal and whilst his stats in cricket or seemingly opinion of him doesn't seem as high as McGlew, Waite, Goddard and maybe even Endean I do know that he was mercurial and in that 1950s team of ours it was appreciated even by people like Bradman. He was a maverick. Great read by the Daily Telegraph on his death. In 1953 he shined v Australia in cricket and rugby.

Roy McLean

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

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I see it's behind a paywall now but some of the stories.

The drawn 1952/53 series that changed SA cricket in many ways. Things were tough right after the war.

The pendulum swung this way and that on the final day. Endean fell for a characteristically sedate 70, Watkins hit 50. Tension was mounting when Benaud bowled Funston to make it 191 for 4. Still 104 to win. Young McLean tugged at his cap and informed Cheetham, “Don’t worry Pop, I’ll get them for you.”
He proceeded to play an ugly wild swipe against the turn and was dropped by Arthur Morris first ball. And then, he blasted his way to 76 in 80 minutes with flashing cuts, drives and hooks.
The series was tied 2-2. The inexperienced South Africans were the first team to hold Australia in their backyard since Jardine had unleashed Bodyline in 1932–33.


For Denis Compton he a joy to behold. “Thank goodness for the McLeans of the world,” he wrote. “In the Leeds Test 1951 Eric Rowan’s double century dominated, Peter May celebrated with a century on debut, but it was the cheerful battering the 21-year-old McLean inflicted on our bowlers —and the hands of our fielders—that created the most vivid memories.”
Compton also said McLean was the greatest outfielder of the world.


His early coltishness vanished with the years and his mature style once moved Don Bradman to praise: "When Roy plays a good innings, no one can hold him. He can score off any type of bowling."

 

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Roy Alastair McLean was born at Pietermaritzburg and educated at Hilton College. As a boy he excelled at cricket, rugby and hockey.

He played his first-class cricket for Natal and made his Test debut in 1951 against England at Old Trafford. Batting at No.7, he made 20 and 19 as England won by nine wickets. In the Headingley Test he confirmed his promise with a fine 67. On the 1955 tour of England McLean scored 1448 runs, finishing second in the averages, and hit a devastating 142 (his highest score in Test cricket) at Lord's.

Five years later he was back on English soil, and against Worcestershire he amassed his highest score in first-class cricket: 207, for the South Africans against Worcestershire, a total that took him only four hours.

On the same tour, in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, McLean hit a chanceless 109, causing Wisden to comment: "Both in technical execution and adaptation to a threatening position for his side [McLean had come in at 3-57] it was the finest innings of the series."

McLean returned to England in 1961, as captain of a young South African Fezelas cricket side on a 21-match tour. The team finished unbeaten, and several of its members were to go on to enjoy glittering careers, among them Eddie Barlow, Denis Lindsay, Colin Bland and Peter Pollock.

His last Test was a drawn match against England in Johannesburg in 1964. McLean retired from first-class cricket two years later and subsequently became an insurance salesman.

In McLean's 40 Test matches for South Africa he scored 2120 runs, including five centuries and 10 half-centuries, at an average of 30.28. In 200 first-class matches he made 10,969 runs, including 22 centuries and 65 fifties, at an average of 36.68. He took 132 catches in his first-class career.

He was South African Cricketer of the Year in 1955 and Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1961.

McLean also played rugby for Natal, and in 1953, after frustrating Australia with his cricket bat in the Test at Melbourne, he also embarrassed them as a fly half: Shehadie's strong Wallabies team was leading Natal with just seconds remaining when McLean received the ball from scrum-half Tich Taylor and scored a drop goal for his side to win the match 15-14.

 

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1952/53 Springboks in Australia



Hugh Tayfield (Nat), Gerald Innes (WP), Anton Murray (EP), Roy McLean (Nat), Eric Norton (EP), John Watkins (Nat), Headley Keith (Nat), Eddie Fuller (WP), Michael Melle (TVL), Ken Funston (OFS)

John Waite (EP), Jackie McGlew (Nat), Jack Cheetham (c) (WP), Russell Endean (TVL), Percy Mansell (Rhodesia)

Manager: Ken Viljoen