St Augustine Stories

St Augustine Cricket Club produced three international players from colonised communities, at different historical times, that shaped the national landscape in South Africa: William (Krom Hendricks), Basil D’Oliveira and Paul Adams. Their voices link Cape society with cricket. During the period under review, amateur sport clubs in Cape Town, like St Augustine, and elsewhere were made up of families. This was because prior to the forced removals of people from Cape Town, starting in the 1960s, many cricket clubs were family-based. Significant families with two or more generational involvement were the Brache, January, D’Oliveira, Wakefield and Witten’s. During social events, many of the elderly former players recall incidents and events relating to a bygone era of family culture and forgotten important developments in the club. One such development was an event involving Basil D’Oliveira, when he visited South Africa in 1971/72, that had national repercussions.