John Young
“The days of going into games maybe 10 years ago without a game-plan are gone,” Shaun Pollock told SA Sports Illustrated in September. The curriculum of the national academy obviously does not include South Africa’s 1952/53 tour of Australia. If it did, Pollock would know that one of the biggest cricketing upsets of all time was based on meticulous planning.
Eddie Fuller was one of the stars of that famous team. “Nobody in this country gave us any chance at all,” he remembers. Australia wouldn’t accept them unless the South African cricket board put up financial guarantees. “Our board were prepared to send us but they said we were going to learn, which was a bit naughty.”
The South African captain wouldn’t tolerate defeatism. In response to a negative send-off by Cape Town’s mayor, Jack Cheetham told him to prepare for the team’s return: “I shall remind you to eat your hat, sir.” Every day of the long boat trip was used to plan field settings and get fit.
The climax of months of preparation came in the fifth Test at Melbourne with Australia 2-1 up in the series. South Africa got to within 85 runs of the Aussie first innings of 520 and had to bowl them out cheaply in the second. Neil Harvey already had four centuries in the series but the 21-year-old Fuller had a plan. “I never feared Harvey. He was such an aggressive player and our aim was to deny him gaps.
“It might have been over-confidence on his part but when I changed my line of attack and I took the pace off the ball the leg stump went over. It was the greatest moment of my entire career.”
Cheetham’s book Caught by the Springboks describes the moment: “Dismissing Harvey who had scored 834 runs in nine innings gave our morale such a lift that anything was possible.”
That “anything” translated into bowling out the vaunted Australians for 209 and chasing down 297 for the loss of just four wickets to share the series 2-2. Fuller’s 5/66 in 30 overs played a big part in completing the master plan. In the dressing room a small, dapper man shook his hand. “Well bowled, young ‘un,” said Sir Donald Bradman. “I could have sprung through the ceiling,” recalls Fuller.
Still lean and fit, Fuller gives credit to his old captain: “Cheetham was the greatest captain of the whole lot. Tactically he worked out all their weaknesses.” Cheetham also worked on the self-belief of his young team.
“Australia is such a difficult country to play against,” says Fuller. “Their self-confidence is unbelievable. Cheetham and our manager, Ken Viljoen, instilled in us, every moment of every hour of every day, that we could beat the Australians if we stuck to the plan. We always expected to master them in a game or two.”
Cheetham had the metronomic accuracy of off-spinner Hugh Tayfield to call on and the South African team set a new standard in fielding. “The Australian crowds started applauding us for our fielding alone,” says Fuller, who remembers the big outfields: “It felt like we were running back to South Africa!”
If Pollock’s men are to beat Australia, the Protea bowlers will have to tighten up. “Control was a big word throughout my career,” says Fuller. He likes the actions of Charl Langeveldt and Pollock (“absolutely marvellous”).
Fuller is proud of a 1956 photograph that shows him as one of the cricketers of the year: the high arm illustrates one of the secrets of control. “As a bowler you have to get up there and direct traffic.”
After a long spell in English league cricket Fuller returned to Cape Town and employment with the city council. He’s still cheerfully working appropriately, for the traffic department.