By Long Leg

Sporting Life. Friday 10 May 1912

As with the Australians, so with the South Africans—it is too early yet awhile to sit in stern judgment upon them. Hasty conclusions must be carefully avoided; but it would be the wildest fiction to say that the side, who made their London debut at the Oval yesterday, played in a manner to impress. On a good wicket against a Surrey attack, depleted by the absence of Smith—the finger split in the Test match trial still kept him idle—then total of 252 was decidedly moderate; and although three of the county’s wickets were captured for 51 runs in the last half-hour the fact remained that the Colonials came badly out of the day’s play.

It was not so much that the South African’s runs were lacking in quantity. More important —seemingly more significant —it was that their innings was lacking in quality. Taken as a whole, it was an innings without colour, without vitality—a thing drab unto insignificance. Batsman after batsman came and laboured for his runs. Of course, the failure of both Faulkner and Nourse— and they must still be considered as the best batsmen that South Africa has to show—was in itself sufficient to rob the innings of much of its distinction; and Snooker and Tancred, Mitchell, and Schwarz, we know of other tours; but as the eleven was composed yesterday forcing players were painfully lacking.