Tommy Ward

Tommy Ward belonged to an era of wicketkeeper batsmen whose primary focus was on efficient glovework and he was excellent at that. South Africa were privileged to have a quite a few fabulous such men before him and although he wasn’t as extraordinary as they were, Ward was still as safe as houses behind the sticks. Batting wasn’t his stronger suit – not having a single first-class century and just six fifties overall show this - but he hardly ever gave in without a fight, often putting a price tag on his wicket. Ward has an infamous distinction of getting a pair on Test debut that saw a hat-trick in each innings and both times, he was the wicket that gave the bowler the hat-trick. That apart, there were plenty of great moments behind the stumps for Ward who had a commendable career both for South Africa and Transvaal. After his cricketing days, he did different jobs and the last of them was at a goldmine where an accidental electrocution took his life in 1936.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan