Alfred Hall

HALL, ALFRED EWART, who died at Johannesburg on January 1, aged 67, played seven times as a fast bowler for South Africa against England between 1923 and 1931, taking 40 wickets for 22.15 runs each. His First Test Match, against F. T. Mann's team at Cape Town in 1922-23, was sensational. England needed 173 to win, but Hall bowled so effectively, taking seven wickets for 63 runs, that, despite a stand of 68 by Mann and V. W. C. Jupp, they got home by no more than one wicket. In the match Hall gained figures of 11 wickets for 112 and he was carried shoulder-high from the field at the end.

In 1927-28 he played a big part in South Africa's success by four wickets at Johannesburg when he obtained nine wickets for 167. In seven seasons for Transvaal he took 128 wickets in Currie Cup fixtures, his best being that of 1926-27 when, with a chief performance of 14 for 115 against Natal, he dismissed 52 batsmen in six games. After that he returned for a time to his birthplace, Bolton, Lancashire. He appeared as a professional for Lancashire nine times in 1923 and 1924.