Percy William Sherwell (17 August 1880 – 17 April 1948) was a South African

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played in 13

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

and batsman from 1906 to 1911.

Life and career

Sherwell was the eldest of ten brothers. His father, Thomas, was described as a "Rand pioneer" and Percy was brought up and educated to follow in his father's footsteps as a mining man. To this end, he was first sent to school at the Berea Academy in

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

, followed by St. Michael's College in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, before rounding off his education in England at Bedford County School from the age of 15, followed by a spell at the

Camborne School of Mines The Camborne School of Mines ( kw, Scoll Balow Cambron), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

. He returned to the Rand in 1902 to take up a managerial position in a gold mine. It was while at Bedford, he said, that his cricket developed. He became captain of the school as well as playing rugby. During his time at Camborne, he represented Cornwall at both cricket and rugby and took the opportunity of the long summer holiday to attend big matches at Lord's and

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

to pick up tips on technique from the best players. He captained South Africa in every one of his 13 Tests. Keeping wicket to the South African

leg-spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

quartet of

Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

, Schwarz,

Vogler The Vogler is a range of hills, up to 460.4 m high, in the Weser Uplands in southern Lower Saxony (Germany). Together with the Solling, the Vogler forms the Solling-Vogler Nature Park which lies a couple of kilometres further south. Ge ...

and

White White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

, he

stumped Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crea ...

a higher proportion of his victims than any other wicketkeeper with over 20 dismissals. In his first Test match, he led South Africa to their first victory in Tests when they beat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

by one wicket in

in January 1906, scoring 22 not out in a match-winning last-wicket

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

of 48 with

Dave Nourse Arthur William "Dave" Nourse (26 January 1878 (some sources say 25 January 1879) – 8 July 1948) was a cricketer who played for Natal, Transvaal, Western Province and South Africa. Life and career A left-handed batsman and left-arm mediu ...

. He recorded his only Test century at Lord's in 1907.

E. W. Swanton Ernest William Swanton (11 February 1907 – 22 January 2000) was an English journalist and author, chiefly known for being a cricket writer and commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for ''The Daily T ...

called this golden age of South African cricket the "Sherwell era". He holds the record for playing the most number of test matches for whom he has kept wicket and opened the batting as a captain (did it in 7 test matches) From 1907 to 1924 he was a Test selector. Sherwell was also an accomplished

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player, winning the singles title at the South African Championships in 1904 and the doubles title in 1903 and 1904 and representing South Africa against England in 1909–10. He also played rugby union for Cornwall and was an international-class hockey player.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwell, Percy 1880 births 1948 deaths People from KwaZulu-Natal Gauteng cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers South Africa Test cricket captains H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers South African male tennis players South African male field hockey players Wicket-keepers