Eclipse of the Summerbok: Percy Sherwell, Paul Roos and the Competition for a National Game for South Africa

Abstract

This chapter argues that Percy Sherwell, the first man to lead a South African cricket team to victory in a Test match, has been a neglected historical figure compared to the Springbok rugby captain, Paul Roos. During their careers, which occurred in the wake of the South African War of 1899–1902, both Roos and Sherwell were exemplars of South African sporting manliness. The chapter examines how Sherwell was developed by the imperial press as an icon for the new South Africa that was to come into being after Union in 1910. It will show how Sherwell’s failure to become an established national figure reflects the failure of cricket to become a central part of South African national identity in the years after the Great War.

‘Summerboks’ was a nickname given to the South African cricketers during their tour of 1907 to Britain, inspired by the ‘Springbok’ tag of the previous winter’s rugby tourists (Daily Mail, 4 May 1907).