Philip Albert Snow, born August 7, 1915, was the man who put Fiji on the map of serious cricket. Pradip Dhole writes about the life and accomplishments of the man.
“Thursday, 12 January 1956, was a notable day in the history of Fiji cricket. The West Indies team was passing through and spending a day in Suva. They very sportingly offered to play a Fiji eleven, though they had been a fortnight at sea. I was given the honour of captaining the Fiji side, and in the event, Fiji scored 91 against West Indies’ 63. Perhaps it is only fair to add that the West Indies batted after a super Fijian lunch! However, Fiji’s bowling and fielding were just too good for the West Indies. Fortunately for us, Weekes did not play, for if a single batsman had managed to stay, I am sure they would have scored freely. As it was, an excellent over from Jack Gosling, backed up by three miraculous catches, two by Harry Apted and one by Bula, removed three world renowned batsmen – Atkinson, de Peiza, and Smith.
“One of the batsmen, on his first tour, smacked a delivery at full force towards Harry Swann – a rather indifferent fielder who had been tucked away as far out of sight as possible. He very sensibly turned away, and the ball hit him a resounding smack on his behind. Clutching at his injured part, he found the ball in his hand and instead of a cry of pain, shouted, “How’s that!” Out it was and that was that. The batsman was the great Sobers – later Sir Garfield Sobers.”
- Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, quoted by Narell McGlusky BA (Hons) in his Doctoral Thesis entitled “The Willow and the Palm: an exploration of the role of cricket in Fiji,” submitted to the School of Humanities, James Cook University.
Early Cricket in Fiji
As is common knowledge, the spread of cricket throughout the British Empire was a consequence of the presence of British military power in the newly colonised regions. In the case of the regions comprising Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean, the specific catalyst was the British Royal Navy. The evolution of the game to Fiji is reported to have been initiated at Levuka, on the island of Ovalau in the eastern region of Fiji, Levuka being once the capital city of Fiji.
A pamphlet of The Fiji Cricket Association informs us that the Levuka Cricket Club was formed in Jan, 1874, the entrance fee being 10 shillings, and the annual Membership Fee coming to a fairly substantial £ 1 for the times. The tradition of organised in these parts may be said to have begun in Feb, 1874 with the arrival of a visiting Royal Naval ship, the HMS Pearl. The Levuka Cricket Club members took the opportunity to meet at the Royal Hotel to select a suitable team from among the members to take on the crew of the vessel.
The first documented cricket match in Fiji is reported to have taken place on Feb 21, 1874 at the Vagadaci ground, although the local team had been accustomed to practicing at the Police Parade ground at Totogo, Suva, in those days. The one sour note had apparently been struck by the nature of the wicket used, being described as being “’not the best’, one end being very bumpy and the other bad for the longstop.” There had been a happy ending, however, with the team representing the Levuka Cricket Club winning the game very convincingly, and the band of the HMS Pearl performing a parade and playing the National Anthem on the cricket ground at the conclusion of the entertainment for the day.
The Doctoral Thesis referred to above goes into great lengths about the intimate connection between the spread and development of cricket in the area and the evolving history of the British influence in Fiji, explaining that the local chiefs of the various clans of native Fijians had endeavoured to cede Fiji to British authority first in 1849 but the British had not been very keen to colonise the territory at that point of time. A second overture to the British had also failed. A third approach was made in January/1873 but was met with the same coolness on the part of the British who did not seem, for whatever reason, very keen on extending their Empire in the South Pacific region.
After these repeated attempts on the part of the Fijian people to embrace Her Majesty’s rule voluntarily, the British Government ultimately relented, albeit reluctantly, and Sir Hercules Robinson, then Governor of New South Wales, ratified the request of the Fijian people on behalf of the Crown and brought Fiji under the Union Jack on 10 Oct/1874. Robinson then proceeded to set up a local interim government before heading back to Sydney. The groundwork was now complete for the growth and blossoming of the British game in this remote corner of the earth, geographically almost diametrically opposite from the Home Country.
The Royal Navy played its part. After the Pearl, it was the turn of the Rosario, and the Dido, as the Navy vessels visited various other parts of the Fijian islands, playing cricket whenever the opportunity arose, until cricket became a favoured sport among the white population of the islands by 1877. The next important factor in the spread of cricket was in the influence of Governor George William Des Vouex, a keen cricketer himself, whose gubernatorial reign began in 1878.
Columnist Graham Davis, in an article written in 2012, recounts how, in 1881, the Levuka Cricket Club had played a cricket game against a team from the ship HMS Bacchantes, one member of the Navy team being the then Prince George, later to become HRH King George V. Although the scorecard of the game has been lost to posterity, it is on record that in 1970, 89 years after the game, Prince Charles, the current Prince of Wales, and the great-grandson of HRH King George V, had visited the supposed patch of ground on which the historical game had been played.
It was the Governor’s first Private Secretary, the Hon JGH Amherst, who had played for the Harrow XI in his younger days, and who took upon himself the responsibility of teaching the basics of cricket to the Armed Native Constabulary in the islands. Amherst, however, could not stay very long and had to leave Fiji due to health grounds. In 1883, Amherst was replaced by Edward Wallington (Sherborne XI and Wiltshire, an Oxford Blue, coach of an England captain in Lionel Tennyson, and latterly Queen Mary's Treasurer), and cricket in Fiji received an additional boost. Indeed, Governor Des Vouex was to later claim in his memoirs that the proper introduction of cricket to the indigenous population of the Fiji Islands had been accomplished during his tenure in the islands.
From sun to Snow
At this point in the narrative, let us tear ourselves away from the sunny ambience of the South Pacific islands, redolent with the pleasant salty tang of sea breezes and take a mental journey to Leicester, in the East Midlands of England, set our mental calendar to the year 1897, and follow the saga of the local Snow family.
Local census reports show that one William Edward Snow, son of William Henry Snow, a machinist, fitter, and general engineer, and his wife Catherine Barker Snow, nee Lewton, was born in the year 1869. After several changes of address, the family had finally arrived at 40, Richmond Road, Aylestone Park, Leicester. Exactly how WE Snow made his living is variously reported. One version has him fulfilling the role of a Foreman in the Leicester Tramway Department, whilst the other version is that he was a clerk and cashier in a Leicester emporium selling boots and shoes, a vocation that was anathema to his sensitive artistic soul, for he was by nature and inclination an acolyte at the altar of Euterpe, the Muse of music.
The Tramway employee or the purveyor of footwear, therefore, found fulfilment in his passion for music. Writing in his book Years of Hope: Cambridge, Colonial Administrator in the South Seas, and Cricket, his youngest son Philip Albert was to write later that the outer door of the homestead used to bear a brass plate with the legend: W. E. SNOW, FRCO, TEACHER OF MUSIC, signifying to anyone who might be interested that the gentleman named was a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, having already swerved out his time as an Associate of the Royal College. Away from the shop or the tram tracks, WE Snow was an organist for three churches and a choirmaster, and supplemented the meagre salary accruing from his day job by taking private music lessons.
The year was 1897 and the local church bells in Leicester pealed merrily to announce the nuptials of the aforesaid William Edward Snow and Ada Sophia, nee Robinson. The newly-weds took up their residence in Leicester and both spent their whole lives in the city. Along the way, they raised a family of four boys, William Harold, born in 1898, Charles Percy, born in 1905, Edward Eric, born in 1910, and Philip Albert, born on 7 August/1915. This is primarily the story of the youngest son, Philip Albert Snow.
Like his other brothers before him, Philip had his preliminary education between the ages of five and eleven at Beaumanor School, a preparatory seminary located on an adjoining street before going on to Alderman Newton’s School in Leicester. He played cricket for his school, receiving some valuable guidance in this respect from George Geary, the England and Leicestershire all-rounder, who was then in charge of the school nets. He won an open scholarship to go up to Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1934 to read History for three years. His second brother Charles, a Doctorate in Physics, and ten years his senior, was a Fellow and teaching Science at Cambridge at this time. During his time at Cambridge, Philip played cricket well enough to captain his College team, although he was never selected to represent his University, hinting that his Grammar School upbringing may have had a fair amount to do with this.
He was elected to the Crusaders Club, recognised as a reserve team for Cambridge University, and reported to have been founded well before the Cambridge University Cricket Club had been in existence. He was also elected to the Hawks Club, founded in 1872, and representing the best sportsmen of Cambridge University. Election to both clubs had been made possible by the recommendation of Norman Yardley, a future captain of Yorkshire and England. Philip Snow won Half-Blues as captain of his university table-tennis team and as a member of the university chess team, one of his chess team-mates being Sir Fred Hoyle, the celebrated astronomer. He was also the elected President of the Historical Society.
The suggestion that Philip opt for Colonial Service as a career was first made by his brother Charles towards the end of his three years at Cambridge. In his autobiographical work mentioned above, Philip Snow mentioned how he had to go through three separate interviews at the Colonial Office for his selection in the Colonial Administrative Service, before he was informed that his first choice of posting, Cyprus, was not under consideration any longer, being on the radar of Benito Mussolini. His second choice happened to be Fiji, about 12,000 miles away.
In due time, he received a communication from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Ormsby-Gore (later Lord Harlech) that he had been selected as a Cadet in the Colonial Administrative Services in Fiji and the Western Pacific subject to medical and dental fitness. This allowed him to continue for one more year at Cambridge undergoing the service-oriented Colonial Administrative Service Course, being one of six Cadets headed for Fiji. Among his other subjects, he was required to take a crash course in Hindi and to familiarise himself with the Devnagari script. Philip Snow set off for Fiji, halfway across the globe from his homeland, in 1938, after the successful completion of his Colonial Administrative Service Course. He was to be the new ADC to Governor Sir Harry Luke, a fine cricketer in his own right.
During his Christ’s College days, Snow played cricket for Leicestershire 2nd XI, captaining the team from 1936 to 1938. In the 3rd week of July/1938, barely two weeks before he was to sail to the South Pacific, Snow received an invitation from Ewart Astill, who had once been the first professional to captain Leicestershire, and was now on the county Board, to perform 12th man duties for the 1st XI in their championship match against Somerset at Aylestone Park. Although his left hand was stiff from his recently taken inoculations prior to his departure for Fiji, he was delighted to accept the offer, being a right-hander.
Barely half an hour into the game, as Harold Gimblett and Frank Lee opened the batting for Somerset, Leicestershire fast bowler Haydon Smith could be seen leaving the ground, and the home skipper George Geary signalled for 12th man Snow to take the field. As they passed, Smith, a very close friend, winked at Snow and cheerily informed him that he was feeling ill. Snow was on the field for most of the Somerset innings, soaking in the first-class cricket atmosphere. The pleasant memories of the innocent subterfuge carried out so skilfully by Astill, skipper Geary, and friend Smith to get him on the field of play during a first-class game, would warm his heart for the four years in Fiji before he was entitled to his first long furlough.
Although there was an extant law that forbade any junior officer to marry until he had cleared all local examinations on his first posting, Snow obtained permission from a kind-hearted Governor to send for his finacee, Anne Harris, immediately amidst the worsening War scenario. They were married on the day of the lady’s arrival and spent a week’s blissful honeymoon at Government House at Suva before being posted to the Lau archipelago.
An Obituary of Philip Snow appearing in The Telegraph on Feburaury 2, 2019 says that Snow, recently married, and 25 years of age, found himself in charge of about 10,000 Polynesians at Lau in 1940. There was no telephone in those days and the only means of communication with the outside world was a monthly boat service. The young Cadet, new to the Service, was completely on his own. As the official representative of the Crown, Snow was the Wrecks Commissioner, as well as being responsible for the welfare of the local population, and the apprehension, trial, and, if required, their incarceration when they deviated from the straight and narrow. Being easy-going people themselves, the Snow family were soon on friendly terms with the locals, integrating well with them, and the social divide between the natives and the young British couple soon vanished.
Spreading the Gospel
Philip Snow spent the dark days of World War II posted at Suva and was required to awake well before dawn to supervise the fortification and defence of Nadi airport on the western side of Viti Levu after the Japanese bombed Peral Harbour in a dawn attack on Dec 7, 1941. Immersing himself in the social whirl and in all the local sporting activities, Snow was surprised and pained to find that the expatriate Europeans and Kailoma (part-Europeans) played their cricket separately from the itaukei (native Fijians) and the Indo-Fijians. Snow took upon himself the responsibility of integrating the races on the sports fields.
Despite some initial murmurings for the white expatriates, Snow founded the first multiracial sporting body in the Fiji, with the exclusively European Suva Cricket Club soon becoming the Suva Cricket Association, the very first racially integrated sporting body of any kind in the Fiji Islands. One of the young stars of the newly formed cricket organisation was Ratu (Fijian chief or Noble) Kamisese Mara, mentioned above, a quick bowler of exceptional merit who would later play first grade cricket for Otago, and become the first Prime Minister of Fiji upon their independence in 1970.
At the time of the Pearl Harbour incident, Snow was serving in the capacity of Government Liaison Officer at Suva and was joined for a short while by his second brother, Charles Percy, the well-known novelist, later to become a Member of Parliament and to be elevated to the Peerage. At various times, Philip Snow was a Commissioner, a Magistrate, the Officer in Charge of the Police, the Superintendent of Jails, a Receiver of Wrecks, a Colonial Secretary, and, of course, a cricketer. In addition, the young man carried in his mind a healthy curiosity about archaeology and about the anthropology of the Pacific islanders.
One factor that Snow had in his favour while mentoring the local talent in cricket was the remarkable dexterity and nimbleness of foot among the native population which accounted for their exceptional speed and accuracy in the field. Probing this attribute of the natives, Snow came to know of a traditional native game called veimoli, an indigenous ball-game played between two contestants who would be required to stand about 25 feet apart, armed with hard, unripe oranges. They would then hurl the oranges alternately at one another, victory depending on the agility of the contestants in avoiding the missiles.
Cricket rapidly became a favoured sport in Fiji, thanks to the coaching and the encouragement of Snow, with both the indigenous and the expatriate populations joining in whole-heartedly. Thus, we find an old scorecard of a 2-day game played at Churchill Park, Lautoka between a team representing Fiji and a team of the New Zealand Forces, played on 4th and 5th April, 1942. In a drawn game, Fiji had totals of 126 all out and 86/6 declared, whilst the NZ Forces could only manage 22 all out and 138/9. One Amenayasi Turaga bowled exceptionally well for the home team and had figures of 6/15 and 3/47.
In Real International Cricket: A History in One Hundred Scorecards, author Roy Morgan says that Snow’s enthusiasm in formulating a proper organisational structure for cricket in Fiji led to the formation of the Fiji Cricket Association in 1946. One of the earliest major assignments of the newly-formed Cricket Association was the 1948 New Zealand tour, an extremely ambitious project, given that there were less than 500 active cricketers in Fiji at the time.
Development of Fiji Cricket
Wisden, the trusted repository of all vital knowledge pertaining to cricket, in an article written by Philip Snow in 1974, shares interesting information cricketing encounters when the Fiji Islanders have toured foreign lands, the account going back to 1895. Before we embark with the present Fiji squad on their 1000-mile sea voyage to the distant land of the Maori, it may be worthwhile to review the history of the international tours that the Fijians had been fortunate to undertake prior to this point of time.
1895 – This was the first Fijian cricket campaign to a foreign land, and was accomplished by a team led by JS Udal, an MCC player and an Attorney-General from 1890 to 1900, and his deputy, Sir Henry Scott. The team, comprising 7 Europeans and 6 Fijian chiefs had toured New Zealand, winning 4 games, drawing 2, and losing 2, a fine overall performance by a team during its first international exposure to cricket.
1907-08 – In an unprecedented adventure of enthusiasm and courage, a team from Mbau Island in central Fiji, reported to be no larger than Lord’s in total area, and with a male population of about 60, had made a trip to Australia, about 2,000 nautical miles away, playing against established cricketers from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria. Against this level of opposition, the Islanders had conducted themselves very honourably on the field and had won 5 games, drawn 16, and lost in 5 matches.
Between Feb 2, 1948 and Apr 6, 1948, the touring Fijian cricket team played a total of 17 matches in New Zealand, five 3-day games, eleven 2-day games, and one single-day game. The 17-member Fijian team, comprising 6 Europeans (and part-Europeans) and 11 Fijians arrived at Auckland on 4 Feb/1948. Commenting on the visiting Fiji team, the Cairns Post, reporting from Auckland on 5 Feb/1948, quoted slipper Snow as saying: “none of the Fijians bowled slowly because they considered such a style ‘rather effeminate’.” On the tour, the indigenous members of the team played bare-feet and dressed in their traditional sulus (cotton side-split sarongs from the waist down). The Europeans, of course, played in their traditional cricket creams.
The Fijians played their first 3-day game against the first-class side Auckland at Eden Park from 13 Feb/1948. For the record, it must be stated that the Auckland team contained several Test cricketers in Don Taylor, Verdun Scott, Merv Wallace, Ces Burke, and left-arm fast-medium bowler Don Cleverley, who had played 2 Test matches 14 years apart. Auckland won the game quite handsomely by 168 runs, Test Wallace scoring a century (108) in a 1st innings total of 340 all out.
The Fiji 1st innings amounted to 143 all out, made possible by IL Bula, the man with one of the longest name in cricket history, with his full name reading an imposing and unpronounceable Ilikena Lasarusa Talebulamainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau, but fortunately shortened to Bula, who scored 44, forging an 80-run 3rd wicket stand with GK Cakobau (33), the tour vice-captain. Although Bula chipped in with 36 in the 2nd innings, and skipper Snow scored 7 and 3*, the visitors were no match for the more experienced Auckland team.
The match against Wellington began at Basin reserve on Feburary 27, 1948. Trevor Barber, later to play 1 Test for New Zealand, won the toss for the home team and chose to bat first. The innings was over in 73.3 (6-ball) overs, the total reading 124 all out. There were 3 men in the 20s, opener Eric Tindill top scoring with 26. Left-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper, Tindill was born in Dec, 1910 and passed away in Aug/2010 while in his 100th year. Apart from his exceptional longevity, he holds the unique distinction of not only representing New Zealand in Test cricket and in Rugby Union Tests, but also umpiring in both cricket and Rugby Union Test matches, a double-double honour absolutely unprecedented in international sport.
When the first day’s play ended with Fiji scoring 132/6, 256 runs had been scored off 127 overs in the day, and Cakobau was unbeaten on 43. Earlier in the day, the Fiji right-arm fast-medium bowler Savu Viliame had returned figures of 26.3-11-34-6, an outstanding performance. Of the Fijian 1st innings total of 171 all out, vice-captain Cakobau’s contribution was 67*, the next highest contribution being wicketkeeper Patrick Raddock’s 27, opening the batting.
The second day’s play produced 301 runs from 123 overs, and ended with Wellington scoring 262/7 in their 2nd innings. When the innings ended on 293 all out on the last day, the visitors were left with a winning target of 247 runs. After Raddock, who had received a hand injury keeping wickets on the second day, and had been replaced by Cakobau behind the stumps, was dismissed for a duck, the 2nd wicket realised 74 runs before the other opener Harry Apted (32) was sent back. When the 3rd, 4th, and 5th wickets all fell in rapid succession at the total of 161 after an 85-run 3rd wicket partnership between Bula (88) and Cakobau (38), there would have been worried looks in the Fiji dressing-room.
At the fall of the 9th wicket at 228, the Fijians still wanted 19 runs to win. The cool temperament of Maurice Fenn (25*) and last man Savu Viliame (14*) carried the total to 250/9, resulting in a 1-wicket victory for the Fijians. The 3 leg-byes and 3 no-balls conceded in the innings by Wellington also helped their cause. This was the first victory by the visitors against one of the first-class teams in a match played over 3 days, and was a landmark for the Fijians on the tour. In passing, it must be mentioned that the only established Test cricketer in the Wellington line-up in the game was Tindill, as mentioned above, although they had some others who would play Test cricket later.
The match against Canterbury was played at Lancaster Park from 5 March/1948. Led by the bespectacled Test player Walter Hadlee, the Canterbury team had in their ranks another Test cricketer in Brun Smith, and two more players, Gordon Leggat and Tony MacGibbon, who would be wearing the black cap with the silver feather within a short time. Canterbury batted first and ended the first day at 421/9, the players going in when Clifford Snook (43) was dismissed off the first ball of the 115th over.
The highlight of the day had been Hadlee’s century (102) and his 5th wicket stand of 109 runs with all-rounder Tony MacGibbon (78 scored in quick time, and replete with 9 fours and 1 six). It was a long day of toil for the 7 Fiji bowlers employed, but Logavatu, Fenn, and skipper Snow picked up 2 wickets each. The Fiji 1st innings total came to 276 all out from 72.3 overs with the top half of the card doing fairly well, and Bula top scoring with 63. Skipper Snow played a patient knock of 28 in 2 hours and 15 minutes. The second day ended with Canterbury scoring 123/6 in 41 overs.
Canterbury declared their 2nd innings at 209/8. All-rounder Peter O’Malley (72) was the 7th man dismissed, the total reading 183 at the time. For Fiji, Maurice Fenn not only captured 4/101, but also ran out 2 batsmen. The visitors were left with a victory target of 355 runs and an injury to a vital player to ponder over. However, Canterbury skipper Walter Hadlee, and umpires Basil Vine and Vic Taylor very kindly allowed the Fiji 12th man, Petero Kubunavanua to substitute the injured Logavatu and to bat in his place.
Fiji were soon 7/2, with opener Raddock (1) and skipper Snow (0) back in the pavilion, and no one was prepared for what was to follow. Coming in at # 4, Bula was at his majestic best with an innings of 120 in 140 minutes, with 14 fours and 2 hits for six. The home skipper was forced to employ 7 bowlers to withstand the onslaught, whilst the crowd kept up the exhilarated chant of “Boo-lah! Boo-lah!” Opener Apted contributed 55, but, in the end, the total of 318 all out was not enough and Canterbury won the match by the relatively small margin of 36 runs. At this stage of the tour, the Fiji team had lost 2 matches and won the game against Wellington.
Carisbrook, Dunedin, was the venue of the next major engagement of the touring Fiji team, against Otago, from 13 Mar/1948. Led by the veteran left-handed batsman Lankford Smith, the home team had in Les Watt and Noel McGregor two potential Test cricketers who would be representing New Zealand in the years to come. Batting first, the Otago innings unfolded in rollicking fashion, the 50 coming in 39 minutes and the 100 being raised in five minutes under 2 hours. Although none of the batsmen made a large score individually, the total reached 217 all out in 78.4 overs. For Fiji, the bowling honours went to the other Cakobau, ETT “Edward”, who captured 5/72. This Edward Cakobau, a senior player, had previously played one first-class match for Auckland in a Plunket Shield match against Otago in Jan/1931, but was turning out for his native Fiji in his first 3-day match.
By stumps on the first day, Fiji were on 140/3, with opener Apted on 65*, and skipper Snow on 23*, the runs coming in 47 overs. The innings ended on the second day at 226 all out, with Apted extending his score to 86. Skipper Snow, playing the only innings of note on the tour, scored 38. The Fijians had a slender lead of 9 runs on the first innings. Although there were 7 Otago bowlers in action, the wickets went to leg-break and googly bowler Leslie Groves (6/88) and slow left-arm orthodox bowler Lankford Smith (4/47).
The Otago 2nd innings also progressed at a frenetic pace, the 100 coming in 1112 minutes, and the 200 being raised in 193 minutes. The only fifty of the innings came from the bat of McGregor (71, in 123 minutes, with 11 fours), as the total reached 251 all out. Fijian leg-break and googly bowler Maurice Fenn captured 6/99, whilst Edward Cakobau added 4/76 to his 1st innings haul.
Fiji began their 2nd innings requiring 243 runs to win the game. It was not to be, and the visitors were dismissed for 196, scored in just under 3 hours, off 60.4 overs. Otago won the match by 46 runs. The result of the series was now at 1-3 against Fiji.
The 5th and last match of the 3-day series was again against Auckland and was again played at Eden Park, play beginning on April 3, 1948. This time, the home team was strengthened by the presence of Test cricketer Bert Sutcliffe, one of the best left-handed batsmen that New Zealand has ever produced, and a legend of the game. Winning the toss, Herb Pearson, the home skipper opted to field first. On a day full of action, Fiji were bowled out for 129 in 55 overs, none of the batsmen reaching an individual 25. The wickets were shared by Don Cleverley (3/30), Ces Burke (3/35), and Francis Hemmingson (4/35).
Sutcliffe led the way for the home team with 67 from 81 balls at the top of the order, the next highest scorer being the skipper Pearson with 26 as Auckland declared their innings at 181/8, scored in 76 overs. Fenn (5/81) bowled exactly half the overs. When Fiji began their 2nd knock 52 runs in arrears, it was opener Apted who led the charge with a well-compiled 97. There were good contributions down the order, with Bula scoring 56 with 6 fours. Middle order batsman Kaminieli Aria scored a rapid 46 from 45 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Fiji felt emboldened to declare at 351/7 leaving the home team a round 300 runs as a winning target.
Although Sutcliffe waged a spirited battle at the top of the order with a valiant 97, the rest of the team could not provide him the requisite support. Auckland were bowled out for 184, Fenn bowling through the innings to capture 6/94 to go with his 5 wickets in the 1st innings. Logavatu’s figures read 4/46 as Fiji won the match by the substantial margin of 115 runs. With a score-line of 2-3, the Fijians had not disgraced themselves. Indeed, the 1948 New Zealand was to be a very significant landmark in the history of cricket in the Fiji Islands.
In Bula, the Fijians found a true champion, the first player of international reputation to come out of the islands, and a wonderful crowd-puller wherever he played cricket. Snow estimates that he had scored in excess of “1000 runs with soaring straight drives of real majesty.” The stand-out performer with the ball for Fiji was Maurice Fenn with over 100 wickets on the tour from his 700 overs bowled, “bowling slow in-swingers with only one off side fielder.”
The tour vice-captain, George Cakobau, otherwise known as Ratu Sir George Thakombau, later became Fiji’s first Governor-General after independence. Snow states that the player whom they had missed most on the tour was Ratu Edward Kamisese Mara, then compleing his studies at Oxford, where an injury prevented him from winning his cricket Blue. As Ratu Sir Edward Kamisese Mara, he was to later become the first Prime Minister of independent Fiji..
Post-Fiji years
Having spent 14 idyllic years in Fiji, and filling the post of Assistant Colonial Secretary since 1949, Philip Snow resigned from his Colonial service and returned to England in 1952 to accept an appointment as Bursar of Rugby School. He spent his next 24 years at Rugby and had the honour of organising the Queen’s visit to the well-known school during the 400th anniversary of the famous seminary in 1967.
During this period of his life, he wrote a number of books, including an autobiographical work entitled Years of Hope: Cambridge, Colonial Administrator in the South Seas & Cricket, already referred to above. Some of his other works include Stranger and Brother: A Portrait of C.P. Snow , written about his second brother, Baron Snow, The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation , People from the Horizon: Illustrated History of Europeans Among the South Sea Islanders in collaboration with his daughter Stefanie Waine, and A Time of Renewal: Clusters of Characters, C.P. Snow and Coups , Best Stories of the South Seas, among others. In addition, he became a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Dictionary of National Biography.
Having retired from service, Philip Snow settled down first in Sussex, later shifting to Hertfordshire. While he never went back to the South Seas, he always kept open house for any visitors from his previous haunts, and always kept his interest in Fijian cricket alive. In 1965, when the Imperial Cricket Conference metamorphosed to form the International Cricket Council, Fiji, Ceylon, and the United States of America were the first non-Test playing countries to be admitted to the forum, along with the Test-playing countries, a development for which Snow could very rightfully feel proud.
An elected Honorary Life Member of the MCC, and also as the Permanent Representative for Fiji on the ICC panel, a post in which he remained for a record 30 years, he launched a concerted campaign at Lord’s to have New Zealand acknowledge the fact that the five 3-day games that his Fiji team had played against the first-class teams of New Zealand on the 1948 tour were, in fact, first-class games. It took him 40 years of diligent persistence to achieve his goal, and when the official confirmation of his dream materialised in 1989, he found himself ranked as a first-class cricketer at the age of 74.
Philip Snow was appointed MBE in 1979 for his services to cricket in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, and OBE in the 1985 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. He was awarded the Fiji Independence Silver Jubilee Medal in 1995. His wife of 65 years passed away in 2005, leaving their daughter Stefanie to take care of her nonagenarian father.
In his later years, Philip Snow thought it fit to write to Wisden on two separate occasions enclosing his biography for the benefit of whoever would later write his obituary. He used to nurse one very fond wish in his heart, that Wisden would one day publish his obituary as they had published his second brother Charlie’s (Lord Baron Snow, the eminent writer, scientist and occasional amateur cricketer), and his third brother Eric’s (the Leicestershire cricket historian). Well, a brief Obituary did appear in the 2013 Edition of The Shorter Wisden after he passed away peacefully on 5 June/2012, in his 97th year.