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Rhodesian first-class cricket in 1959/60Captain: David LewisThe season began with a visit from the strong English county side Surrey, who had won the championship each year from 1952 to 1958 and had finished third in 1959 after another strong challenge. The county side contained eight past, present and future Test players, and missed only their captain, Peter May, because of illness. They played two first-class matches against Rhodesia; Rhodesia won a narrow victory in the first and made Surrey struggle hard to avoid defeat in the second. The outstanding home player was Percy Mansell, in his final full season: besides scoring useful runs, he took 19 wickets in the two matches. Unfortunately, Rhodesia's performance in the Currie Cup was most disappointing, in line with a pattern often noted over the years that the team performed much better in 'fiendlies' than the Cup. The team's only victories were over the newly promoted Border team, which was comprehensively overwhelmed in the A Section. Once again the batting failed to perform to potential; the bowling was generally very good, but rarely had much of a target to bowl at. Only once was a Rhodesian total in the Currie Cup significantly over 200, and even that failed to save the follow-on against Natal. Still, the innings lasted long enough to save the team from outright defeat. Despite this weakness, the only heavy defeat was in the final match against Western Province. Ray Gripper topped a rather dismal batting list with 256 runs (average 25.60), while Chris Duckworth had the highest aggregate (344 runs at 24.57). Percy Mansell, Paul Winslow, David Lewis, Tony Pithey, Rob Ullyett and Harry Birrell all scored more than 150 runs with averages of between 20 and 25. Colin Bland, at university in South Africa, was available for only four matches and did little. The bowling was carried by three superb bowlers, of whom Godfrey Lawrence was most impressive: 37 wickets at 16.62. He was given fine support by Joe Partridge, with 32 wickets at 19.87. Remarkably, neither bowler was chosen to tour England in 1960, which proved to be to South Africa's disadvantage, especially with the controversy over Geoff Griffin's action. The third leading bowler was Percy Mansell, who did not make himself available for the Currie Cup tour; he took 26 wickets at an average of 17.84. CURRIE CUP TABLE, 1959/60
Double Single
Inns Inns No
Played Won Lost Won Lost Dec. Points
(6) (3) (1) (1)
Natal 6 4 - 2 - - 30
Transvaal 6 4 1 - 1 - 25
Western Province 6 3 3 - - - 18
RHODESIA 6 2 3 - 1 - 13
Border 6 - 6 - - - 0
(Friendly) At Police Ground, Salisbury; 10, 11, 12 October. RHODESIA 246 (R A Gripper 73, P N F Mansell 66*; G A R Lock 6/76) and 160 (R A Gripper 46; G A R Lock 5/44, K F Barrington 3/48). SURREY 297 (K F Barrington 111, M J Stewart 39, R Swetman 40, G A R Lock 40; J T Partridge 3/35, P N F Mansell 6/77) and 107 (K F Barrington 30; P N F Mansell 7/43). Rhodesia won by 2 runs. (Friendly) At Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo; 17, 18, 19 October. SURREY 75 (J T Partridge 6/27) and 380 (D G W Fletcher 91, J H Edrich 151, A V Bedser 42*; G B Lawrence 4/81, P N F Mansell 6/158). RHODESIA 321 (R A Gripper 46, D J Lewis 118, P N F Mansell 33; G A R Lock 3/86) and 53/3. Match drawn. At Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo; 14, 15, 16 November. BORDER 116 (J C Muller 32, M H Griffith 44; G B Lawrence 4/29, P N F Mansell 3/11) and 69 (J T Partridge 7/9, P N F Mansell 3/41). RHODESIA 138 (D J Lewis 46; S Knott 3/54, R K Thorne 7/40) and 49/4 (S Knott 3/15). Rhodesia won by six wickets. At Police Ground, Salisbury; 21, 22, 23 November. RHODESIA 167 (C A R Duckworth 48, P L Winslow 47; T L Goddard 3/46, A F Tillim 3/19) and 164 (A J Pithey 68, P L Winslow 54; T L Goddard 5/67, J M Cole 4/17). NATAL 154 (M K Elgie 32, R A McLean 57; G B Lawrence 4/53, J T Partridge 4/48) and 180/6 (D J McGlew 63). Natal won by four wickets. At Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo; 28, 29, 30 November. TRANSVAAL 245 (A I Taylor 59, W R Endean 33, S O'Linn 89*; G B Lawrence 7/43) and 227/4 dec (A I Taylor 34, W R Endean 117*). RHODESIA 184 (A J Pithey 56, P L Winslow 42; G S Bunyard 5/35, K A Walter 3/54) and 205 (C A R Duckworth 40, P N F Mansell 30, K C Bland 54; K A Walter 3/44, J P Fellows-Smith 5/57). Transvaal won by 83 runs. At Durban; 1, 2, 4 January. NATAL 500/7 dec (D J McGlew 48, T L Goddard 200, R A McLean 73, B P Armitage 79). RHODESIA 273 (A J Pithey 45, H B Birrell 116, D J Lewis 38; G M Griffin 5/49) and 82/1 (C A R Duckworth 37*)/ Match drawn. At East London; 8, 9, 11 January. RHODESIA 201 (P L Winslow 34, R B Ullyett 49, J D McPhun 39; S Knott 3/44, A F Hagemann 3/44) and 121 (R B Ullyett 44; R K Thorne 3/25, A F Hagemann 3/31). BORDER 95/9 dec (G B Lawrence 3/42, J T Partridge 5/51) and 180 (P J Muzzell 50, S Knott 38*; G B Lawrence 6/48). At Cape Town; 15, 16, 18 January. RHODESIA 189 (R A Gripper 30, D J Lewis 33, R B Ullyett 31; J E Pothecary 3/30, H D Bromfield 5/52) and 170 (C A R Duckworth 67, R B Ullyett 31; J E Pothecary 5/29, H D Bromfield 3/35). WESTERN PROVINCE 378 (G A S Innes 99, P L van der Merwe 95, R J Westcott 56; G B Lawrence 3/84, D C Napier 3/78, P D Oldham 3/93). Western Province won by an innings and 19 runs.
It is intended in the future to produce full scorecards, and also much more information about all cricket in Rhodesia during this season. At present, the next entry in this section is for 1960/61 |
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