Pieter Gerhard Vintcent van der Bijl (21 October 1907 in
Kenilworth, South Africa – 16 February 1973 in
Kalk Bay,
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...
) was a South African
cricket
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 ...
er who played in 5
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) ...
in 1938–39. His son,
Vintcent, also had a successful
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 ...
career.
The son of one
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 ...
cricketer and the nephew of another, Pieter van der Bijl was educated at
Diocesan College
The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established o ...
,
Rondebosch
Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town.
History
Four years after the first Dutch ...
,
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, and was then a
Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world.
Esta ...
at
Brasenose College
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...
,
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
from 1928. A newspaper report in 1930 said that van der Bijl was "reputed to be the tallest man in Oxford". In many reports then and later, his surname was spelled "van der Byl".
Early cricket
His first-class cricket career for Western Province began in 1925–26 and he played regularly for the team in 1926–27, acting as wicketkeeper. Aside from an innings of 60 not out against
Eastern Province he did not make much impression as a batsman. After a single game in the 1927–28 season he disappeared from first-class cricket for almost four years.
English experience
At Oxford, van der Bijl initially made a mark in athletics and boxing more than in cricket. In athletics, his event was "putting the weight", as the
shot put
The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...
was termed. He was fourth in the freshman's trial in his first year and later won a
half-blue. The following day, he was the heavyweight in the university boxing match against
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
and won his bout, which was the last of the tournament and won the rubber for Oxford by four to three. In cricket, he was not picked for the freshmen's trial match in 1929, and though he played in the seniors' match in 1930, he was not then selected for any of the first-class games; in 1931, he played in a single match, but after scoring 16 not out and 0, he was not chosen again that season.
In 1932, van der Bijl scored a century in one of the
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
cricket trial matches and that led to his selection for early matches: once in the team, he did well enough to justify continued selection. Sometimes opening the innings, sometimes batting in the middle order, he scored consistently and totalled 540 runs and an average of 45.00.
His best match was against
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
when he made an unbeaten 97 in the first innings and followed that with 60 in the second. Despite his success, however, van der Bijl's batting attracted criticism. ''The Times'', reporting on his 97 not out against Essex, wrote: "His driving too often had the dead and muffled sound that comes from bad timing and a lack of follow-through. Still, his defence was good and if he took an unconscionable time to reach his 50 he deserved the century that he just missed." ''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
'' too, in its review of the 1932 Oxford season, was also somewhat faint in its praise: "Van der Bijl seemed to play an unnecessarily laboured game for a man of such fine physique," it wrote. "Patient, with very strong defence, he usually took a long time to settle down and seldom allowed himself the luxury of an attempt to force the game." In a year when Oxford were not strong in cricket, however, van der Bijl was one of the early selections for the
University Match
The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world.
Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...
, though in a high-scoring drawn game with
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
he scored only 7 in his single innings.
Back in South Africa
Leaving Oxford, van der Bijl returned to South Africa, but did not play first-class cricket over the next couple of seasons. He reappeared in three games in the 1934–35 season for Western Province with no great success, and was not in the
1935 South African team in England. The following year, he played only one match, right at the end of the season, and did not feature in the Tests against the
Australians
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...
. From 1936–37, however, he played more regularly and in 1937–38, he was the captain of the Western Province side. Regular cricket brought more success: he finally hit a first-class century, more than 10 years after his debut, in making 195 against
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 1936–37, which would remain his highest first-class score – in this match he also opened the bowling, though he did not take any wickets, and he was never a regular bowler. The following season, in a dozen innings, there were two further centuries and five other scores of more than 50, and he averaged 60.30.
By this time, Van der Bijl's reputation for stodgy batting was well in the past. In the match against
Eastern Province at the end of the 1937–38 season, he hit 28 off six balls of the final over of the match to win the game.
Test cricketer
As was usual at that time, the
Currie Cup
The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...
domestic first-class competition was cancelled for the 1938–39 season as there was a tour of South Africa by an
England team. Van der Bijl played in an early game for Western Province against the tourists and scored just 19 and 14.
He was then picked as an opening batsman for the first Test of a five-match series, making his debut on Christmas Eve 1938; in this drawn game, he had limited success, scoring 4 and 38. He was more prominent in the second Test, another draw, scoring 37 in the first innings and then, when South Africa was forced to
follow on
In cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team who batted f ...
making 87 and sharing a second wicket stand of 147 with
Eric Rowan
Eric Alfred Burchell Rowan (20 July 1909 – 30 April 1993) was a South African cricketer who played for Transvaal, Eastern Province and South Africa.
An opening batsman, Rowan was a dominant personality in South African cricket for more than ...
which saved the game. ''The Times'' reported: "Van der Byl (sic) played his usual stolid defensive game for the first part of his innings, but later used his great height to hit with vigour." There were no such heroics in the third game which England won by an innings; Van der Bijl scored 28 and 13. Having opened the innings with
Bruce Mitchell in the first three matches, van der Bijl had a new opening partner in
Alan Melville for the fourth Test, and they responded in South Africa's only innings of the game with a partnership of 108, at which score both batsmen were out, van der Bijl for 31 and Melville for 67. With the series still undecided (England were winning 1–0 with three matches having been drawn), the final Test was intended to be played to a finish: in the event, after a match of unprecedented high scoring, it was left drawn to enable the England team to return home. Van der Bijl had his best match, with innings of 125 and 97. In the first innings, van der Bijl put on 131 for the first wicket with Melville, and batted for the whole of the first day, at the end of which he was 105 not out. His batting was mixture of dour defence and pugnacious stroke-making, according to Wisden's report: "Van der Byl spent forty-five minutes before opening his score and three hours elapsed before he hit a boundary," it wrote. "He did not take the slightest risk though he astonished everyone when he punished
Wright
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...
for twenty-two in one over, including five boundaries. Next he pulled a ball into the grand stand for 6." In the second innings, Mitchell was restored as van der Bijl's opening partner, and they put on 191 for the first wicket, van der Bijl failing by three runs to become the first South African to score two centuries in a match against England.
In the series as a whole, van der Bijl scored 460 runs at an average of 51.11; his was the second highest aggregate of runs for South Africa in the series, beaten only by Mitchell's 466.
Later career
The
Second World War
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 ...
brought an end to competitive cricket in South Africa. Van der Bijl played in a few first-class friendly matches in 1939–40 and in a war-time first-class game a couple of years later, but there was no more Test or Currie Cup cricket for him.
He was badly wounded while serving in North Africa during the war, and played no more cricket after that.
[ E.W. Swanton, ''Sort of a Cricket Person'', William Collins, London, 1972, p. 102.]
His career was as a schoolmaster and he became the headmaster of the Diocesan College Preparatory School in Cape Town. His son,
Vintcent van der Bijl, another very tall man, became a successful fast bowler for teams in South Africa and England, though his career coincided with the exclusion of South Africa from international sport because of
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
and he did not play Test cricket.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Bijl, Pieter
1907 births
1973 deaths
Afrikaner people
South African people of Dutch descent
South African Rhodes Scholars
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
South Africa Test cricketers
South African cricketers
Oxford University cricketers
Western Province cricketers
Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town