by Arunabha Sengupta
The country is burning.
On December 5, 1956, Nelson Mandela is woken up early in the morning by the police. His house is searched and subsequently he is arrested for High Treason.
Over the next 10 days, another 155 leaders within the congress of the people — mostly black, but also with some coloured, Indian and even white among them, virtually the whole ANC leadership — are arrested on the same charge. It is a massive country-wide operation, the victims brought to the Fort, the infamous prison of Johannesburg, by bus or flight. A laconic Albert Luthuli comments, “It was rather like a joint executive of the Congress … Distance, other occupations, lack of funds and police interference had made frequent meetings difficult … [Now] delegates from the remotest areas were never more than a cell away.”
At Johannesburg, England need 232 to win on a wicket that is still playing true. The Adcock-Heine duo spend 25 minutes buzzing deliveries over the heads of Bailey and Richardson. With the score on 10 Tayfield comes on.
Four wickets in the first innings. The second ball sees Bailey go forward. It pops up and is taken by Endean at short leg. Umpire says out. England finish the fourth day at 19 for 1. 213 to get. Match hanging on a knife’s edge.
If South Africa go on to win, it will have to be Tayfield. He has to bowl all day. As Alan Ross writes: “Should [skipper] van Ryneveld at any time have to take him off it would be tacit surrender.”
He starts with three short legs. Insole sweeps him through the three fielders. Richardson is looking good. He is driving, sweeping and pulling with ease. 46 runs in the first hour. Things start to look bleak for the South Africans. Tayfield wheels on but at the other end Heine is too short. At noon it is 65 for 1. The pitch has not really revealed any demon.
Tayfield now pitches outside the left-handed Richardson’s leg stump. The opener tries to sweep and is bowled around the legs.
It is Cowdrey who comes in to join him. Ahead of May and Compton. Perhaps a thoughtful move. Tayfield flights one up in response. Cowdrey comes out and deposits him over long on. The stroke rejuvenates him. He bats like a dream. Insole keeps sweeping Tayfield. The deep square leg becomes essential.
At 147 for 2, England is on top. Goddard runs in, keeping it tight. Insole tries to force him off the backfoot, edges and he is magnificently caught left-handed at slip.
The catcher? That man again. Tayfield.
Just 84 runs to get, Cowdrey going strong, May walking out and Compton yet to bat. England are still in the driver’s seat.
May plays what Charles Fortune calls “Zulu hoick”. He times the ball well enough, but it goes straight into his pad. Endean, retreating in evasive action, stops, staggers and dives forward to catch it. 148 for 4.
Compton looks weary. For the past several innings, his only scoring option against Tayfield has been a chop past the slips. Now he chops straight into the hands of Goddard.156 for 5. The end of specialist batsmen.
It is not Evans who comes in, but Johnny Wardle. To force the pace. He finds four men patrolling the long boundaries and sweeps Tayfield five times in one over. On four occasions it results in a couple, and on the fifth it reaches the fence. The score rattles along. But van Ryneveld keeps Tayfield on.
Cowdrey brings up his fifty. Now Tayfield changes his line, bowls outside the off. Wardle slashes hard. Waite throws the ball up. The decision is out.
30 runs added between Wardle and Cowdrey in 36 minutes. It is tea with England 186 for 6. 46 runs required. Cowdrey still at the wicket.
Evans and Cowdrey start after tea. Tayfield is tireless. Before each over he takes off his cap and kisses it before handing it to the umpire.
Runs come in singles and the occasional two. And then Evans goes back to dab Tayfield to third man once too often. The canny spinner outwits him. The ball touches the angled bat and goes on to the stumps.
It is Laker at the wicket now. 36 needed. A run comes, then another, then yet another. Cowdrey faces Tayfield. The off-spinner sends down a half-volley. The match has got too close for this to be let go. The batsman jumps out and drives. The ball travels fast and the bowler hugs it to his stomach. “Tayfield took that stinging catch with the eagerness of a starving hawk snatching a long-sought meal,” jots down Charles Fortune. 199 for 8 and England’s last batsman makes his way back to the pavilion.
Laker and Loader fight hard. For fifteen minutes they keep Tayfield at bay. But, the ploy of pressure with four men near the wicket and cover with two men deep on the long boundary is difficult to overcome. Laker lofts Tayfield, and is caught fifteen yards inside the fence. The sun is in Duckworth’s eyes, but he manages to hold it. 208 for 9.
Loader and Statham push and swing for six more runs. And then the former took the oft failed aerial route. Still no Funston on the field. The substitute is still Tayfield’s brother Arthur. And he holds the catch in attitude of prayer.
Victory by 17 runs. Incredible incredible Hugh Tayfield. Bowled unchanged all day. 37-11-113-9. Eight ball overs. On a pitch that has not helped at all. Nine wickets with the magic of the fingers of his right hand, and the 10th caught with his left. He is carried on shoulders to the dressing room. No South African has ever taken 9 in an innings, nor has any South African taken 13 in a match. The next match,he takes 6 wickets in the last innings. The series is tied 2-2 ... Tayfield finishes with 37 wickets at 17.18.
Ross writes in his notebook: “[Tayfield] has become a national hero, at a moment when a thrilling Test match has miraculously squeezed some of the poison out of South African life.”
Silky mover, good looking in a jeune premier kind of way, fond of the more indolent pleasures of life. Hugh Tayfield was the greatest off-spinner the world has seen alongside Jim Laker.
He was born on Jan 30, 1929.