Solly Joel, a South
African mining magnate, sponsored
a tour by a strong England team
to South Africa, which became
known as the `Jolly Souls'. The
full England side was touring
Australia under Arthur Gilligan,
but there was enough reserve
strength for such great players
as Percy Holmes, A C (the first
`Jack') Russell, Alec Kennedy and
George Geary to be included. It
was captained by Hon Lionel
Tennyson. The team found the time
to cross the Limpopo and play
Rhodesia at Raylton.
Rhodesia were
captained by Bob Catterall, just
returned from a personally
successful South African tour of
England. Also in the team was Tom
Bourdillon, the only survivor of
those who had played the previous
English team, Leveson-Gower's.
That aggressive all-rounder
Hamish Campbell-Rodger made his
Rhodesian debut, as did another
very useful all-rounder, Bill
Wood, at the age of 18. Wood is
believed to have died in Cape
Town sometime around 1970, but
this has not yet been
verified.
Rhodesia enjoyed
early success when the `Jolly
Souls' batted, reducing them to
92 for seven, before a superb
168-run partnership between Ted
Bowley and Tom Jameson took them
through to what proved to be a
match-winning lead.
At Raylton, Bulawayo; 5, 6, 8
December. RHODESIA 121 (R H
Catterall 38; G Geary 4/38, T O
Jameson 3/13) and 212 (F H Morgan
50; G Geary 5/70). SOLLY JOEL'S
ENGLAND XI 294 (P Holmes 32, E H
Bowley 131, T O Jameson 90*; S A
Cowper 4/65, F H Morgan 3/85) and
42/2. Solly Joel's XI won by
eight wickets.
It is intended in the future to
include full scorecards and much
more information about all
cricket in Rhodesia at this time.
At present, the next entry in
this section is for 1927/28
