Jack Siedle - Test Regular

Test Regular

Siedle did well in the early first-class matches of the tour to England: in the second county match of the tour, he hit an unbeaten 169 against Leicestershire, taking more than five hours to reach 100 but then adding a further 69 in little more than an hour. Three weeks later he almost repeated the feat by making 168 against Yorkshire including 20 fours in what Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described as "an admirable innings". After that, however, he was forced to retire ill in the match against the Minor Counties and he then missed six of the next seven tour matches, and they included the first two Tests of the five-match series. He returned to fitness in time to be selected for the third Test, but he was not a success, being dismissed for 0 and 14 as England won the match by five wickets. There was no success for him in the remaining Tests in the series, either: he scored 6 and 1 in the fourth match and another 14 in a single innings in the final game. But away from the Tests, Siedle continued to be a regular and reliable scorer, though there were no more centuries. He ended the tour with 1579 runs, the second highest aggregate after Bruce Mitchell, at an average of 35.88, the second highest average after Herbie Taylor. His overall performance earned praise from Wisden: "Siedle, though a failure in the three Test matches in which he took part, was very consistent otherwise and never looked an easy man of whom to dispose. He watched the ball well and had a nice variety of strokes," it wrote.

Back in South Africa in the 1929-30 season, Siedle hit the highest score of his career in making an unbeaten 265 for Natal in the Currie Cup first-class match against Orange Free State. It was at that time and still remains the second highest innings for Natal, beaten only by Dave Nourse's 304 not out in 1919-20 against Transvaal.

In 1930-31, England toured South Africa, and the Currie Cup was suspended. Siedle made 46 and 38 in Natal's match against the touring side, and that was enough to earn him a place in the team for the first of a five-Test series. The match was won by South Africa by the narrow margin of 28 runs and Siedle, with 13 and 35, had his best Test so far. The second Test was the sixth of Siedle's career and finally he was able to make runs: opening the batting with Bruce Mitchell, he scored 141 out of a first-wicket partnership of 260 that was the highest at the time for South Africa in Tests, and set the team on its way to its then-highest Test total, 513 for eight wickets declared. Mitchell and Herbie Taylor also scored centuries in the innings and England were forced to follow on, though the match ended as a draw. In the rain-hit third Test, Siedle made 38 in South Africa's first innings, surviving while four of his partners were out, but he was dismissed for 0 in the second innings. The fourth Test was a tight match that ended in a draw and Siedle scored 62 in the first innings and 8 in the second. And he made 57 and 30 in the final game of the series, also a draw, which left South Africa with a 1-0 series victory; in this match, with the game petering out to a draw, South Africa bowled its part-time bowlers, and Siedle took the only wicket of his entire first-class career, having the England batsman Maurice Turnbull caught and bowled. In the series as a whole, Siedle scored 384 runs at an average of 42.66; he was the second highest scorer for South Africa after Mitchell.