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Rhodesian Cricket History - before
1904
The first white
settlement in the country, at
what was then called Fort
Salisbury (after the British
Prime Minister) and is now
Harare, was founded on 12
September 1890. Even before then,
on the afternoon of 16 August,
the first game of cricket had
been played, by members of the
Pioneer Column, as it was called,
on its way northwards from South
Africa. The result has not been
definitely recorded, but one of
the players was the former Surrey
and England player Monty Bowden,
who was sadly to die in the
country within two years. Bowden
had less than two years before
captained England in a Test
against South Africa, and settled
in that country.
A
number of well-known South
African cricketers at about the
turn of the century were to
settle in the new country, named
Rhodesia, and some were also to
play for it: there were Herbert
Castens and Godfrey Cripps,
captain and vice-captain
respectively of the first South
African team to tour England in
1894; Murray Bisset, who
captained the 1901 tourists to
England; Percy Sherwell, South
African captain and
wicket-keeper/batsman; Henry and
`Sonny' Taberer; and `Joey'
Milton. Several noted English
cricketers also came, especially
from the universities: Walter
Forbes, Cyril Foley, Henry
Mordaunt and Herbert
Keigwin.
Dates
and events of interest
1891 Salisbury Cricket Club founded, and league organised.
1894 Three club sides founded in Bulawayo.
1895 Salisbury team travelled to Bulawayo, only to be defeated by
an innings in the first `inter-provincial' match.
1897 Salisbury Cricket Club moved to site of the present Harare
Sports Club.
1898/99 Lord Hawke's English touring team played two `odds' matches in
Bulawayo. The Cape politician J D Logan asked Lord Hawke to
buy a cup in England for inter-town competition; this became
the Logan Cup, now Zimbabwe's first-class competition.
1899/1900 The Vigne Cup, donated by Mr E Vigne, was instituted for the
Salisbury inter-club competition; this competition and cup are
still in existence today.
1903/04 The first two Logan Cup matches: Bulawayo beat Salisbury and
Gwelo in turn to become the first holders.
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