At the third T20I between New Zealand and South Africa later today, a piece of history will be reconstructed. In what many will find a moving gesture, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) will hand over a replacement Test cap to the family of William Brook-Smith.
He is kind of an unknown entity even in New Zealand, but almost 112 years ago, he played his first and last game for New Zealand against Australia at Eden Park, Auckland — also the venue for today’s game.
If you are into interesting facts, keep on reading. This match was the first match ever at Eden Park. And it’s considered to be the last known international match before the First World War, after which international cricket couldn’t be played for so many years.
And guess who played in that match for Australia? Yes, none other than the great Victor Trumper. Before Donald Bradman, Trumper was considered the greatest batsman. There are many accounts where Trumper has been called “aesthetically superior” to Bradman.
He made 80-odd in the only Australian innings. The visitors went on to win the match by an innings. The match proved to be Trumper’s last game because the very next year, he passed away at the age of 37, on account of a kidney disease. Word has it that some 20,000 people lined the route to his funeral in Sydney.
The Cabble Tree Swamp is now Eden Park
Nessie Snedden had accounted for Trump in that game, and Snedden is the grandfather of former NZC chief executive Martin Snedden. Nessie Snedden’s father Alexander once owned the land where Eden Park stands today. The land was then known as the Cabbage Tree Swamp.
Coming back to Brook-Smith, he contributed 46 and 18 in the match and in the first innings, he featured in a nice partnership with Ned Sale, the centurion for the Kiwis.
The cap he had received in 1914 had disintegrated, which is understandable. It’s not a concrete monument that can last hundreds of years. So what NZC has done is that it has come up with the idea of a replacement cap, and today it will give it to the family of Brook-Smith.
Brook-Smith’s grandson Mark Shepherd, his wife Sue and their daughter Kale will be present at the venue to receive the cap and be part of another piece of history. It’s extraordinary, isn’t it?
