John Watkins: Among the VilCheet side of 1952-53 (and extracted from there … )
by Arunabha Sengupta
John Watkins was as close to a genuine all-rounder as South Africa got between Aubrey Faulkner and Trevor Goddard.
Watkins bowls Miller
When the famous VilCheet side—thus named because of manager Ken Viljoen and captain Jack Cheetham—transformed from pitied underdogs to giant-killing, series-levelling heroes during the 1952-53 series Down Under, Watkins scored 352 runs at 35.20 batting mostly at No 7. At the critical juncture, with everything to play for in the final Test, he was promoted to No 3 and top-scored with 92 in the first innings, ensuring a fighting total of 435 in response to 520 amassed by Australia. In the second innings, with 295 to win, he walked in at No 3 once again, scoring 50 and adding 82 with Russell Endean and 50 with Ken Funston. South Africa won by six wickets and squared the series.
With the new ball, his tight medium pace captured 8 wickets in that series at a not-too flattering 43. 75. However, in the first Test at Brisbane, he captured 4 for 41, his scalps being McDonald, Morris, Hassett and Miller.
On the rest day during the same Brisbane Test, he and Anton Murray caddied for Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller as they squared off on the course against a couple of local golfers.
Across the Tasman Sea, Watkins enjoyed his best Test bowling performance, picking up 4 for 22 in the second New Zealand innings in the first Test in the course of an innings win. A year later, the Kiwis were at the receiving end again as Watkins, now pairing with the young Neil Adcock with the new ball, captured 4 for 34 against them at Port Elizabeth.
Before the tour, Watkins, along with Headley Keith, had cine shots captured of his batting and bowling at the nets, to identify and iron out the defects. All this certainly bore fruit.
Watkins played 15 Tests, scoring 612 runs at 23.53 and picking up 29 wickets at 28.13. He also had a long stint for Natal, 11 seasons amassing 1222 runs and capturing 48 wickets.
According to Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Watkins was "a right-handed batsman with a fine range of scoring strokes – his batting, like the man himself, was cavalier and joyous". His bowling was more utilitarian, and an economy of 1.74 in Tests and 1.81 in First-Class cricket tells us about the tightness of his bowling.
He earned his living as a secretary-accountant.
Watkins is the last surviving member of the side famous Vil-Cheet side that toured Australia and New Zealand in 1952–53. When fellow South African Lindsay Tuckett passed away on 5 September 2016, Watkins became the oldest living Test cricketer.
John Watkins was born on 10 April 1923. He did not score a century in Test cricket, but is approaching one in his life.
The oldest surviving Test cricketer