by Arunabha Sengupta
Handsome, modest and with a voice so pleasing that even the prosaic Wisden referred to it as ‘particularly attractive’, Reggie Schwarz was an all-round athlete. Of Silesian descent and born in Kent, he excelled at rugby in Cambridge, even winning three caps as a half-back for England. He also played cricket for Middlesex, mainly as a batsman.
Another bloke playing for Middlesex during those days had discovered something new. BJT Bosanquet had twisted his wrists and delivered the ball from the back of his hand, and somehow they had spun back into the batsmen. Of course, as we all know now , he developed the skill while indulging in that daft game of twisti-tosti, and had only hesitatingly brought it into serious cricket.
In late 1901, Bosanquet took a group of amateur cricketers to North America, and Schwarz was among those who travelled. All these associations with the inventor bore fruit. Schwarz, attentive and curious, picked up the tricks of the trade.
Soon, Abe Bailey, the great Transvaal financier with a fanaticism for cricket, engaged Schwarz as his secretary and our man settled in Johannesburg. When he came over to England again, it was with Frank Mitchell’s South African side in 1904. When MCC played the visitors at Lord’s, Bosanquet picked up 9 for 107 and Schwarz was one of the four batsmen to be stumped. When, 20 days later, Middlesex played the South Africans at Lord’s, Bosanquet hit 110 and 44, but picked only two wickets. Schwarz hit 43 and 19 and picked up 5 for 48 in the second innings, bowling googlies. The match ended in a tie, but the more important result was that the art had been passed into able hands.
England cricket somehow remained dependent on bowling of the slow left-arm, seam and fast variety. The googly refused to spread across the counties. Not so in South Africa. Schwarz passed on his tricks to a group of eager, talented men. Aubrey Faulkner—about to become one of the greatest all-rounders the game had ever seen. Bertie Vogler—a lethal operator, perhaps the deadliest of them all. Gordon White—a classy batsman who could turn his arm over and his wrist around when asked to.
Plum Warner’s men visited in 1905-06. Schwarz captured 18 wickets, Faulkner 14, Vogler 9, White 2. South Africa won 4-1.
He had another great series, when the result was against them. Clem Hill’s Australians decimated them with clinical professionalism, winning the 1910-11 series 4-1. Schwarz picked up 25 wickets in the Australian Tests at 26.04 apiece.
In 20 Test matches, he captured 55 wickets, at 25.76.
Curiously, to ensure his googlies were accurate, Schwarz eschewed leg-breaks completely. His variation was the top-spinner, and an occasional wide turning off-break. Slow through the air, fast off the pitch, he could turn it between six to 18 inches. On a sticky even a yard. No wonder he did not need the leg-break.
Schwarz served in the Great War, in German South-West Africa, winning a Military Cross. Later he was wounded twice in France and was mentioned in despatches. And after surviving the bloody hostilities he was struck down by broncho-pneumonia and died seven days after armistice was signed.
The man who carried the torch of the mysterious art did not forget his old friend who had taught him. He left Bernard Bosanquet a bequest of £ 1,000 in his will.
Bosanquet’s son was born in 1932, and was christened Reginald. (Although later in life Reginald Bosanquet claimed that he was thus named because of the popularity of the PG Wodehouse novels, the alternative suggested by his mother being Archibald)
Reggie Schwarz was born on 4 May 1875.
Illustration Maha