Edging Towards Darkness: The story of the last timeless TestCricket matches didn't always top out at five days, regardless of a result or not – they used to be 'timeless', with play continuing until one team won, no matter how many days that took. The last of these – which took place in Durban in 1939, in a series pitched against the backdrop of impending war – is now universally acknowledged as 'the timeless Test'. Weighing in at a prodigious ten days – the match stretched from 3–14 March 1939, and allowed for two rest days, while one day's play (the eighth) was lost entirely to rain – it is quite simply the longest Test ever played. A litany of records also perished in its wake and 'whole pages of Wisden were ruthlessly made obsolete'. If that was not enough, one player, the fastidious South African batsman Ken Viljoen, felt the need to have his hair cut twice during the game. Only the matches between Australia and England at Melbourne in 1929, which lasted eight playing days, and West Indies and England at Sabina Park, Jamaica, a year later (seven days), come remotely close in terms of their duration. In Edging Towards Darkness, John Lazenby tells the story of that Test for the first time. Set firmly in its historical and social setting, the story balances this game against the threat of encroaching world war in Europe – unfolding at terrifying speed – before bringing these two disparate strands together in an evocative and vibrant denouement. |
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
Chapter 2 The Rise of the Springboks | 41 |
Chapter 3 The Call of Africa | 65 |
Chapter 4 A Threepenny Opera | 99 |
Chapter 5 The CutPrice Test | 126 |
Chapter 6 The Long Reply | 150 |
Chapter 7 On Borrowed Time | 182 |
The Timeless Men | 227 |
Timeless Test Scoreboard | 279 |
The Records | 280 |
MCC in South Africa 193839 | 283 |
Notes | 287 |
295 | |
Acknowledgments | 300 |
301 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
all-rounder amateur Athlone Castle attack Australia ball batsman batting Bijl boundary bowled Bradman Cape Town captaincy Cardus catch country’s crease crowd Dalton debut despite Dudley Nourse Duffus Duffus wrote Durban Edrich eight England England captain England players Farnes fast bowler fielders first-class cricket five four fourth Test Gibb Gibb’s Goddard Grieveson ground Hammond Hedley Verity Hutton international cricket Jack Johannesburg Ken Farnes Kingsmead Langton later leg-spinner Lord’s Louis Duffus Melville minutes Mitchell never Newlands Newson occasion Oval pace pavilion Paynter Perks pitch played rain recalled record returned Robertson-Glasgow Rowan runs scored season selectors seven side South Africa South African cricket spectators Springboks stroke stumps Swanton Test cricket Test match timeless Test tour tourists Transvaal turf Valentine victory Viljoen Walter Hammond West Indies Western Province wicket wicketkeeper Wilkinson Wisden Wright Yardley Yorkshire