Last innings for iconic allrounder Goddard, 85
Aformer captain of the South African cricket team, Trevor Goddard, has died at the age of 85.
He had been wheelchair bound and stayed on a farm belonging to his son-in-law George Smith and his daughter Lindi, outside Fauresmith in the Free State.
Goddard, who represented SA between 1955 and 1970, captained the country on the 1963-64 tour of Australia and New Zealand and also at home against England in 1964-65.
He was ranked among the top allrounders in world cricket during his career and his Test figures confirm this. He was the first South African to score 2 000 runs and capture 100 wickets in Tests.
As sports writer and then later the Daily Dispatch cricket writer, I got to know Goddard reasonably well when he lived in East London. He had moved to Lower Ridge Road, Bonnie Doon after the death of his first wife, Jean.
He was always friendly and to my mind he was a living example of complete and honest modesty. It was difficult at times to get him to talk about his exploits on the cricket field as he was keener to talk about his church activities.
He always felt that the Lord had called him for special activity and there was no surprise when he moved to Cape Town where he was very active in church circles, devoting his life to preaching and missionary work.
During his stay in East London, he often gave motivational talks to the Border team, highlighting the mental side of playing first-class cricket, as well as passing out tips on batting, bowling and fielding.
Goddard was educated at Durban High School and his first sporting love was soccer, but by the time he was 21, he was an established member of the Natal Currie Cup cricket team. He also played for North-Eastern Transvaal in the late ’60s.
Goddard was a tall, left-handed batsman and a nagging, accurate medium-paced left-arm bowler and was always superbly fit.
He represented Natal Schools in the 1949 Nuffield Week held in Rhodesia and was selected for the SA Schools XI at the end of the tournament to play a Rhodesian team where he took three wickets for 62 in a drawn match.
Goddard made his debut for Natal in 1952-53 in a friendly first-class match against Transvaal and showed his promise with 3-69 off 19 overs while opening the bowling.
He scored 13 before being bowed by another great South African bowler, Neil Adcock, who was also making his first-class debut. He played six A Section Currie Cup matches that season under the captaincy of Dudley Nourse, captain of the 1951 South African touring team in England.
In his second Currie Cup match, he scored 100 not out against Eastern Province at Kingsmead, the first of 26 centuries in his career.
He scored another century in his first season, 102 against Orange Free State at the Ramblers, Bloemfontein, and he finished the season with 433 runs (43.30) and 18 wickets (30.00).
In 1953-54 he began a long-lasting and productive opening partnership with Jackie McGlew for Natal and later South Africa.
His all-round play in 1954-55 ensured his selection for the 1955 tour of England where he made his Test debut at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
He and Hugh Tayfield were the most successful bowlers in the series, and in the fifth Test England selected six left-handed batsmen in order to counteract the socalled leg-theory bowling of Goddard to the right-handers.
Goddard took 2-39 and 5-69 at Headingley, Leeds in the fourth Test and he and Tayfield (4-70 and 5-94) were the match-winners.
The series was lost 2-3, and in 1956-57 against Peter May’s England side, South Africa were able to draw the series 2-2 after losing the first two Tests.
Goddard did well against Australia in 1957-58 although SA were beaten 3-0 and was selected as vice-captain to McGlew of the touring team to England in 1960 – a tour which was blighted by the no-balling of Geoff Griffin for throwing.
Goddard missed the Tests against New Zealand in 1961-62 when he moved to England but upon returning to South Africa, he made himself available for the 1963-64 tour of Australia and New Zealand and was appointed captain of a young team which stunned the cricket world by holding the powerful Australians to a 1-1 drawn series.
At Adelaide, Graeme Pollock and Eddie Barlow added 341 in a record third-wicket partnership. South Africa won an enthralling Test by 10 wickets and were unfortunate not to win the fifth, a third draw in the series.
On each of his three major tours, Goddard scored more than 1 000 runs and contributed with the ball.
The 1964-65 series against Mike Smith’s England team was a boring affair after England won the first Test on a spin-friendly pitch in Durban and played for safety thereafter.
Goddard was asked by the selectors to step down as captain which he rightfully refused to do. He managed to score his only Test century, 112 in the fourth Test at the Wanderers.
He was unavailable for the 1965 tour of England when Peter van der Merwe was appointed captain. The Western Province skipper retained the Test captaincy in 1966-67 when SA won their first rubber against Australia 3-1.
Goddard was in great form with the ball, taking 6-53 in the firstever win in SA over Australia at the Wanderers in December, 1966, his best Test figures.
He played in three of the four Tests in 1969-70 against Bill Lawry’s touring team, who lost the series 0-4 to a rampant South African team with Barlow, Graeme and Peter Pollock and Mike Procter being the dominant players in a highly successful team under Ali Bacher.
Sadly, Goddard was not picked for the final Test, his place going to Pat Trimborn, his Natal teammate.
He had indicated he was not available to tour England in 1970 – a tour which was subsequently cancelled, a rather sad end to a magnificent international career.
In 41 Tests, Goddard scored 2516 runs (34.46), and 123 wickets (26.22). He played 179 first-class matches, finishing with 11 289 runs (40.60) and capturing 533 wickets (21.69), the best all-round figures for any South African at the time of his retirement in 1970.
Goddard leaves his second wife, Lesley, son Chris and daughter.