FROM THE ARCHIVES

In the first of an occasional articles remembering notable matches from SMCC's past, we look back on a visit to Old Edwardians in the mid 1990's notable for one illustrious member of the opposition.

At the time, most of our opponents had a professional or overseas player in their side. Old Eds had a young 18 year old South African all rounder, who in the first fixture had smashed 114 at Foliot Fields including 8 sixes...not bad considering he he didn't come to the crease until the 27th over. At the time he was an unknown, just another young overseas pro, now he is widely considered one of the greatest Test Match all-rounders of all time. 9th July 1994 - the day SMCC came up against Jacques Kallis.

With the bat he managed 42 before being Run Out as Old Eds amassed 219-7 from their 50 overs with SMCC's own pro, Rashid Mahmood picking up 3-68. With the ball Kallis made immediate inroads, removing Les King with his 4th ball and Rob Walker in the 5th over as SMCC fell to 13-2 and then 38-6 as T Grant picked up 4 wickets at the other end. Cometh the hour, cometh the Tube. Steve Bose joined Mark Wooley at the crease and recorded a memorable 50, seeing off the end of Kallis's first spell, before being 9th out during Kallis's second spell. As well as Tube's 50, the scorecard shows that Bobby Nicholls and Jim Rasin both hit Kallis to the boundary...something to tell the next generation at least!

SMCC finished all out on 133, losing by 86 runs with 5 overs to spare. We've come up against other test players in more recent times (Marlon Black played for Wolvey and Lionel Baker played for Marston Green) but surely Kallis is the greatest name to have ever come up against SMCC's finest.

The scorecard from the match can be found here, perhaps those who played in the match could add some more details to what the experience was like.