Rhodes lad Clive played for and against England

EVEN at a time when the boundaries of nationality have been blurred almost beyond recognition, Clive van Ryneveld achieved a double almost 70 years ago which could not be emulated today.

A Rhodes Scholar, the Oxford University student lined up at centre for England throughout all four matches of the 1949 Five Nations. He returned to his native South Africa and reappeared on the Test scene in England two years later.

This time the boot, or to be more accurate the pad, was on the other foot. Van Ryneveld the all-rounder lined up for the Proteas in all five cricket Tests during the 1951 series.

By then, believe it or not, another Rhodes Scholar from an even further-flung part of the Empire had beaten him to it in respect of playing for and against England. The New Zealander Martin Donnelly preceeded van Ryneveld in the centre for Oxford University and England, if not for very long.

His first international, a 22-0 beating by Ireland in Dublin in 1947, proved to be his last. Donnelly took it out on England’s bowlers at Lord’s two years later, scoring a double century which still stands as the only one by a Kiwi at the home of cricket.

Van Ryneveld, for the record, made 0 and 18 at Lord’s. A lawyer, he served as a Member of Parliament in South Africa, campaigning against the government for the removal of their despised apartheid regime. He died in Cape Town a few days ago, only weeks away from what would have been his 90th birthday next month.

The game also lost another of its grand old men last week, the former Harlequins, England and Lions centre Phil Davies. Born in the Worcestershire village of Abberley, he also played for Evesham, Cheltenham and Cambridge University.

A headmaster who partnered Jeff Butterfield for England and the Lions, Davies would have been 90 this summer.