1889–90 Currie Cup

The 1889–90 Currie Cup was the inaugural edition of the

Both sides made low scores in their first innings; Kimberley, who had opted to bat first, were dismissed for 98 runs, and in their reply Transvaal reached 117, a lead of just 19 runs. In the second innings, they both fared better; a century from Bernard Tancred helped Kimberley to a total of 235, but Transvaal reached their total in 38 five-ball overs, helped by a century from Monty Bowden.

Background

Transvaal challenged Kimberley for the Currie Cup in 1890, the first such challenge for the trophy. A number of the team selections were controversial: the selection committee for Transvaal chose Aubrey Smith and Monty Bowden, both of whom had remained in South Africa after touring as part of the England cricket team the previous year, and Charlie Finlason, who played the majority of his cricket for the opposition Kimberley team. Finlason, a newspaper journalist, had fallen out with Smith after writing a number of articles criticising him and the English side. When Finlason was selected for Transvaal, Smith—who was captaining the side—made him bat at number eleven.^[7]

Match

Summary

The match began on Saturday 5 April 1890 at the

Transvaal began their reply strongly; their openers, Monty Bowden and John Hickson put on 69 runs for the first wicket, the majority being scored by Bowden. Once they lost their first wicket, the team continued to lose wickets at regular intervals; the second-highest partnership of the innings was the 17 runs made for the tenth, or last, wicket. George Glover was the best of the bowlers, collecting six wickets. Glover and Albert Rose-Innes bowled the majority of the overs, and took nine of the wickets between them. Bowden's score of 63 was substantially the best by any batsman in the innings, only John Piton, Spranger Harrison and Hickson scored more than 10 runs, and none managed as many as 20.^[8]

The third innings of the match gave Kimberley a second attempt at batting on the first day; they lost wickets regularly through the afternoon, but opener Tancred remained at the crease throughout, finishing the day unbeaten on 55, with the team on 100 for six. The match resumed on Monday 7 April 1890, with no play scheduled for the Sunday. After the early loss of Rose-Innes for 20 runs, Charles Rutherfoord joined Tancred. The pair scored 97 runs together, taking the score up to 226. Three quick wickets then ended the Kimberley innings; they scored 235 runs from 83 overs, in which Tancred scored a century, hitting 106 runs before being leg before wicket to Bowden. Vintcent took the most wickets for Transvaal, claiming four for 70. Smith claimed two wickets, and Bowden, who was designed on the scorecard as the team's wicket-keeper also claimed two wickets from the three overs that he bowled.^[8]

Transvaal batted rapidly in their second innings, reaching the required total to win the match inside the second day of the match, which had been scheduled for three days in total. Opening batsman Bowden batted throughout the whole innings, remaining not out on 126 when his side won the match. He was joined at the end by Vintcent, who scored 60 runs in a partnership of 126 runs between the two players. Kimberley tried six different bowlers in an effort to bowl Transvaal out, but only Rose-Innes and Irvine Grimmer took wickets, claiming two apiece.^[8]

Scorecard

Key

• * – Captain
• † – Wicket-keeper
• c Fielder – Indicates that the batsman was dismissed by a catch by the named fielder
• b Bowler – Indicates which bowler gains credit for the dismissal
• lbw – Indicates the batsman was dismissed leg before wicket
• ht wkt – Indicates the batsman was dismissed hit wicket
• st – Indicates the batsman was stumped

Aftermath

Transvaal and Kimberley remained the only sides to contest the Currie Cup in the following season, and in their 1891 match, Kimberley won by 58 runs in a