Perhaps Ray Jennings too? He was a little before my time, but I have a colleague who saw the Mean Machine in their heyday, and he rates Jennings as the best keeper he ever saw - although obviously a 30 year old memory isn't the best basis for judging a player.Would say outside those Saffers mentioned I would maybe add Rupert 'Spook' Hanley. In the recent India test series Shaun Pollock said he was one of the bowlers he admired most growing up.
Not like you to return to one of your threads after you've lit the blue touch paper slippy!Darren Stevens should be in everyone's list also
Oh, thanks for that. I must confess I've never heard of him, even though I like to think I know pre WWII cricket pretty well.Krom Hendricks was also widely considered the fastest bowler in South Africa in the 1890s but thanks to being a coloured was apparently prevented from playing for SA (with pressure from CJ Rhodes playing a part).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krom_Hendricks
More info:Oh, thanks for that. I must confess I've never heard of him, even though I like to think I know pre WWII cricket pretty well.
Thank you!
Definitely up there with his wicket-keeping contempories of 80sPerhaps Ray Jennings too? He was a little before my time, but I have a colleague who saw the Mean Machine in their heyday, and he rates Jennings as the best keeper he ever saw - although obviously a 30 year old memory isn't the best basis for judging a player.
I have no idea if he was actually any good, but this guy could be worth considering too looking at the stats.On that subject Howie Bergins and Winston Carelse are interesting names to conjure with
Oops, thought that was Vince Van Der bijlI have no idea if he was actually any good, but this guy could be worth considering too looking at the stats.
Also looks as if almost his entire career was in a special black-only league which presumably would have had a significantly lower standard than most First-class competitions, given it excludes the majority of the quality cricketing population of the country. Probably wasn't really first-class standard.I have no idea if he was actually any good, but this guy could be worth considering too looking at the stats.
Well yeah it was.Also looks as if almost his entire career was in a special black-only league which presumably would have had a significantly lower standard than most First-class competitions, given it excludes the majority of the quality cricketing population of the country. Probably wasn't really first-class standard.
lol 6 scores of 400+ in 2 decades, and 87 scores of below 100It was a non-white league not a black-only league.
Apparently pitches were really bowler friendly too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howa_Bowl
Non-white and black aren't the same thing in South Africa. There's a distinction drawn between black African and coloured, which refers to people of mixed race heritage. Sometimes they do get lumped together under the catch-all of "black", but they are regarded as separate ethnic groups with their own cultural identity. Vincent Barnes is coloured, not black (and so are Vernon Philander and JP Duminy).tbh "non-white" and "black-only" were probably effectively the same thing in South Africa at that stage. Might have been a few sub-continental folks floating around but that's about it.
**** it genuinely sounds like a horrible place to live at timesNon-white and black aren't the same thing in South Africa. There's a distinction drawn between black African and coloured, which refers to people of mixed race heritage. Sometimes they do get lumped together under the catch-all of "black", but they are regarded as separate ethnic groups with their own cultural identity. Vincent Barnes is coloured, not black (and so are Vernon Philander and JP Duminy).