Thread:
170 wickets at 25.91, with a miserly economy rate of 1.94. Often unplayable, mostly unhittable.
The greatest off-spinner the #cricket world has seen alongside Jim Laker.
Hugh Tayfield was born #onthisday 1929.
The following thread underlines his absolute mastery.

1956. The country is burning. On 5 Dec , Nelson Mandela is woken up early in the morning by the police and arrested for High Treason. #BLM

Over the next 10 days, another 155 leaders — mostly black, but also with some coloured, Indian and even white among them, virtually the whole ANC leadership — are arrested on the same charge.
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.”

Also at Johannesburg, England. 2-0 up in the series, 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.

4 wickets in the first innings. The second ball pops up off Bailey’s defence 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. Alan Ross writes: “Should [skipper] van Ryneveld at any time have to take him off it would be tacit surrender.”
Tayfield starts Day 5 with a posse of short legs.

Insole and Richardson look good. 46 runs in the first hour. 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.

Cowdrey in ahead of May and Compton. Tayfield tosses one up and he comes out and deposits him over long on. He bats like a dream. Insole keeps sweeping.

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, Compton yet to bat. England are still in the driver’s seat.

May plays what Charles Fortune (in pic) calls “Zulu hoick”. Casual racism, but this is apartheid South Africa.
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 drives straight into the hands of Goddard.156 for 5.

It is not Evans who comes in, but Wardle to force the pace. He finds four men patrolling the long boundaries and sweeps Tayfield five times in one over. Four twos and a four. The score rattles along.

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.

It is tea with England 186 for 6. 46 more required. Cowdrey still at the wicket. Evans joins him.
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. Runs come in singles

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. “ 199 for 8 and Cowdrey trudges back.

Laker & Loader fight . For fifteen minutes they keep Tayfield at bay. But, the ploy of pressure with four men near the wicket, two men deep is difficult to overcome. Laker lofts Tayfield. The sun is in Duckworth’s eyes, but he manages to hold it 15 yards inside the fence. 208/9.

Loader and Statham push and swing for six more runs. And then the former takes the aerial route. The substitute on for Funston is 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 thoroughly unhelpful pitch. 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 SAn has ever taken 9 in an innings, nor has any SAn taken 13 in a match.
In the next Test he takes 6 in the last innings. The series is tied 2-2 ... Tayfield 37 wkts at 17.18.
Everyone cheers. Even the non-European enclosure.

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.”
#BlackLivesMatter

Silky mover, good looking in a jeune premier kind of way, fond of the more indolent pleasures of life. Tayfield finished with finished with 170 wickets at 25.91, with a miserly economy rate of 1.94. The greatest offspinner ever alongside Jim Laker

Hugh Tayfield was born on 30 Jan 1929.

#cricket #southafrica #onthisday

Some ‘historians’ voiced that since I wrote this book against Apartheid, I had no business covering white cricket in detail. Hmm. A variant of Apartheid?
Both white & non-White cricket in SA are covered. Full picture is important. History is important. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9492203030