Geoff Griffin

Geoffrey Merton Griffin (12 June 1939 – 16 November 2006) was a Test cricketer who toured England with the South African cricket team in 1960, appearing in two Test matches.

A right-arm, fast bowler and lower order batsman, his selection for the tour was controversial, because of his suspect bowling action – some of his deliveries were judged to be thrown rather than bowled.

The core of his problem was that, due to a childhood accident, he was unable to fully straighten his right arm.

Griffin was born in Graytown, Natal, on 12 June 1939.

He received his education at Durban High School, where he excelled at many sports: cricket, athletics (he held provincial titles for high jump, triple jump and pole vault), and Rugby football (in which he played for the provincial under-19 XV).

Fifty years later, during South Africa's 1951 tour of England, the umpire Frank Chester wanted to no-ball the South African quick bowler Cuan McCarthy, but was told by the Lord's authorities to desist: "These people are our guests".

England's Tony Lock was called for throwing during a Test Match in the West Indies, in 1953–54 (he subsequently remodelled his bowling action).

After leaving school he made his debut for Natal's Cricket XI in the 1957–58 season, and played regularly in 1958–59.

As the result of an accident when a schoolboy, he could not fully straighten his right (bowling) arm; he experienced problems with his action while at school, and was twice no-balled for throwing during the 1958–59 season while bowling for Natal, although he escaped censure in the 1959–60 season.

According to Griffin's Wisden obituarist many years later, his bent arm "allied to an open-chested action, with front foot splayed towards gully, made him look more like a baseball pitcher than a conventional bowler".

John Waite, Griffin's future Test colleague, batting for Transvaal against Natal in 1958–59, says he informed the umpire that Griffin was throwing.

The umpire replied: "You concentrate on batting, and leave the umpiring to me."

It was Griffin's misfortune that his emergence as a possible Test bowler occurred at a time when the matter of illegal bowling was an issue of considerable and rising concern among cricket's international authorities.

Incidents in a recent England tour to Australia had brought the issue to the fore; South Africa were, therefore taking some risk in selecting Griffin.

The Laws of Cricket, in their various formulations, had always specified that the ball delivered to the batsman must be bowled, not thrown – that is, the bowler's arm must be straight at the point of delivery.

This rule had, from time to time, created problems in the game.

The issue arose again during England's 1958–59 Australian tour, which was dominated by the suspect actions of four Australian bowlers: Ian Meckiff, Gordon Rorke, Keith Slater and Jim Burke; Jack Fingleton, the former Australian batsman, provocatively entitled his account of the series Four Chukkas to Australia.

Neither England's captain, Peter May, nor the tour manager, Freddie Brown, raised the issue publicly during the series, but did so afterwards, causing considerable concern to the leading administrators on each side, Gubby Allen and Sir Donald Bradman.

In 1959–60 he returned bowling figures for the season of 35 wickets for an average of 12.23, heading the national bowling averages.

His figures included 7 wickets for 11 runs in the extraordinary Currie Cup match at East London on 19–21 December 1959, in which Natal dismissed Border for 16 and 18.

During the 1960 tour he was no-balled for throwing in several matches prior to the Test series, but retained his place in the side nevertheless.

In his second Test appearance, at Lord's in June 1960, he became the first South African cricketer to take a hat-trick in a Test match, and also the first cricketer of any nationality to do so at Lord's. In the same match, however, he was no-balled for throwing eleven times, and again in an exhibition match that followed the match's early conclusion.

After 1960 the throwing controversy largely subsided as an issue in international cricket.

These performances were significant, because a Test tour of England was scheduled for 1960, and South Africa were looking for a partner for their star fast bowler Neil Adcock.

Griffin was duly selected, at 20 the team's youngest player.

These early successes with Natal were, however, marked with a degree of controversy about Griffin's bowling action.

They decided that the matter had to be resolved before then, and accordingly they resolved to adopt what they termed a "zero tolerance" policy during the intervening period, especially with regard to the forthcoming 1960 tour to England by South Africa.

Griffin's first match of the 1960 tour was against Derbyshire, on 7–10 May.

During this game the umpire Paul Gibb called the Derbyshire fast bowler Harold Rhodes six times for throwing, but Griffin remained unmolested.

He took three wickets in his side's easy victory.

In his next county game, against Essex, on 14–17 May, Griffin again escaped attention from the umpires, but members of the media, including the writer and former Test bowler Ian Peebles, wrote that "there was something amiss".

The following week, in the match against the MCC at Lord's on 21–24 May, Griffin was called for throwing by both umpires, John Langridge and Frank Lee, the first member of any touring side to be thus called.

When, a few days later, he was called again in the match against Nottinghamshire, it was clear that some action needed to be taken.

The immediate step was to send Griffin to the indoor cricket school run by the former England bowler Alf Gover, in Wandsworth.

This treatment seemed to help, but at the same time to reduce Griffin's effectiveness.

He, along with others, was convinced that he had been made a scapegoat to ensure that certain bowlers would be omitted from the Australian side due to tour England in 1961.

The principal issue in these administrators' minds was what would happen if these bowlers were brought to England in 1961, when the Australians were due to visit.

These events ended his international career, and after fruitless attempts to resolve his problem, he retired from cricket in 1963, at the age of 23.

Griffin was unfortunate to emerge on the international scene at a time when cricketing authorities were particularly concerned about the growing proliferation of bowlers with dubious actions and were determined to eradicate it.

Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the Australian umpire Jim Phillips no-balled the Australian fast bowler Ernie Jones for throwing; the same umpire ended the career of England's star bowler Arthur Mold by declaring his bowling action illegal.