by Arunabha Sengupta
The 1952-53 South Africans. A band of youngsters, unheralded—shorn of a clutch of recently retired greats. “I doubt whether any international cricket team has begun an overseas tour in such an atmosphere of gloom and pessimism as the 1952–53 South African side to Australia,” wrote Johnnie Moyes. The Australian Board were so worried about the commercial value of such a weak side, they asked the South African Cricket Association to cover all the costs of the tour.
Skipper Jack Cheetham. Veteran of the battlefield, analytical as befits his profession as an engineer. He hatched up plans to bridge the gap of experience and talent with tactics.
Danie Craven, the Springbok rugby great, was engaged to draw up a fitness regimen, and the routines are diligently implemented. The captain astutely mixed rigid army discipline with light-hearted implementation for the benefit of the side. There was a ‘bounce committee’ which levied fines for certain misdemeanours—2/6 for being late for a shipboard function, 1/- for being unshaven, 1/6 for missing church, 2/6 for making a move on the girlfriend of a colleague. Curfew was at 11 PM.
John Watkins and Headley Keith even had cine shots taken of their batting and bowling at the nets to study and work on the faults. McGlew and Roy McLean batted on concrete wickets, arranging for the fastest bowlers of the locality to hurl down short-pitched balls in order to perfect their hook shots. During late evenings, Cheetham and manager Ken Viljoen studied the scoring charts prepared by Bill Ferguson.
The result was an incredible 2-2 draw in the series against the likes of Miller, Lindwall, Harvey, Hassett and Morris.
At the end of the visit, Jack Fingleton wrote: “South Africa may become the cock of the cricketing walk.”
Cheetham followed this up by leading South Africa to a 4-0 victory over the visiting New Zealanders at home.
Just before his team visited England in 1955, Cheetham made the boldest of pronouncements: “This could be South Africa’s greatest tour.” Ambitious words those, while taking on a team that had just conquered Australia and retained The Ashes in the most emphatic style.
In the end, England just about managed to squeeze a 3-2 win.
Cheetham had retired by the time the Englishmen returned the visit in 1956-57. The series was fought tooth and nail before finishing 2-2.
Cheetham was largely responsible for rebuilding the South African side, transforming them from a motely group of young, inexperienced cricketers to a formidable unit with a strong nucleus of stalwarts: Jackie McGlew, Neil Adcock, Hugh Tayfield, John Waite, Russell Endean, Roy McLean, Trevor Goddard and Peter Heine.
Later, it was Cheetham who shuttled between the two countries of South Africa and England, desperately trying to make the 1968-69 tour happen in spite of the D’Oliveira controversy.
It was he, as president of SACA, who in late 1969 announced “The South African team would now be chosen purely on ability and irrespective of colour considerations.” Perhaps, as Hassan Howa suggested, it was “mere window dressing for the British public.” Indeed, Cheetham did not have the wherewithal to follow up the statement with action in that apartheid regime. But, he desperately wanted cricket to continue.
After the cancellation of the 1970 tour of England, Cheetham visited Don Bradman in Australia. The legend told him that for the sake of cricket he wanted the [1971-72] tour to proceed. However, the Don was wary of the dangerous demonstrations that had eventually got the 1970 cricket tour cancelled. It would be better if the side sent to Australia was not all-White, he suggested.
Cheetham persuaded the SACA to make an official request to include two non-White players in the South African squad. He discussed with Prime Minister BJ Vorster in private. He approached Dik Abed and Owen Williams on his own initiative, requesting them to join the side.
However, Hassan Howa, the SACBOC President, saw this gesture as empty. “SACBOC wants to have nothing to do with two token non-Whites in the team, like dummies in a shop window.”
And of course, Vorster reiterated that it was the sole responsibility of the various non-White bodies to contact overseas countries and establish their own international links. Sending a mixed-race team was out of question.
The Australian tour was also cancelled and South African cricket went into isolation. But Jack Cheetham did try. Very very hard.
Jack Cheetham was born on 26 May 1920.