Basil Arthur Helfrich (30 March 1919 – 6 March 1938) was a South African

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who showed great promise as a teenager but died at the age of 18. He was one of four brothers who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in South Africa.

Life and career

Basil Helfrich lived in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, where he made his first-class debut in March 1935 a few days before his 16th birthday, playing for

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

in a victory over

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

. Also in the Griqualand West team were John Waddington, who had made his debut earlier in the season a few days younger than Helfrich and would play for Griqualand West for another 24 years; Tony Harris, 18 years old, who would play

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; and Helfrich's elder brother

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

, who had made his debut five seasons earlier at the age of 17. As he was still at school, Helfrich played only home matches in his first two seasons. In 1935–36 he top-scored with 66 in the match against

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, and then top-scored in both innings of the match against the touring Australians, making 64 and 59 when none of his team-mates were able to reach 25. In the second innings he was so severe on the bowling of

Bill O'Reilly William O'Reilly or Bill O'Reilly may refer to: Government and politics * Bill O'Reilly (political commentator) (born 1949), American commentator, author and television host * William O'Reilly (MP) (1792–1844), UK MP for the Irish constituency o ...

that O'Reilly was taken out of the attack. The Australian batsman

Jack Fingleton John Henry Webb Fingleton, (28 April 190822 November 1981) was an Australian cricketer, journalist and commentator. The son of Australian politician James Fingleton, he was known for his dour defensive approach as a batsman, scoring five Tes ...

thought Helfrich "was bound to become an international", as did the South African sports journalist

Louis Duffus Louis George Duffus (13 May 1904 in Melbourne, Australia – 24 July 1984 in Johannesburg, South Africa) was a South African cricketer who became the country's most respected writer on the game. Life and career Duffus was educated in Johannesbur ...

."Obituary: B. Helfrich", ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

'', 30 April 1938, p. 28. Helfrich played the full seasons of 1936–37 and 1937–38. In 1936–37 he made his only century, 109 against

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, and appeared for a strong South African team in a first-class match against City of Johannesburg. His batting form fell away in 1937–38. During the season, just after scoring 120

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

in 80 minutes in a club match in Kimberley, he was struck down with

enteric fever Enteric fever is a medical term encompassing two types of salmonellosis, which, specifically, are typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever. Enteric fever is a potentially life-threatening acute febrile systemic infection and is diagnosed by isolating ...

, and died a few weeks later, just short of his 19th birthday. Griqualand West's match against North-Eastern Transvaal was abandoned after the second day's play when news came of his death. Besides his batting, Helfrich was a brilliant fieldsman and useful slow bowler. He also excelled at

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and swimming.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helfrich, Basil 1919 births 1938 deaths South African cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Cricketers from Kimberley, Northern Cape