12 Facts About Bob Catterall

Robert Hector Catterall was a South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches from 1922 to 1931.

Bob Catterall was a right-handed batsman, usually batting in the middle order but sometimes in the earlier part of his career used as an opener, and a right-arm medium-pace bowler often used to break troublesome partnerships, though he did not take any Test wickets until the final series that he played in.

Bob Catterall was educated at Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg where he was coached by the former Gloucestershire cricketer and Lord's coach Alfred Atfield.

Bob Catterall opened the innings twice on his first Test appearance, the first game of the five-match series against England.

Between the third and fourth Tests, Bob Catterall played in a second first-class match for Transvaal against the touring side and top-scored for his team with 68 in the first innings.

The result in the second Test of the series, held at Lord's, was identical to the first game, and Bob Catterall's first-innings score of 120 was a repeat performance too.

Bob Catterall benefited from being dropped when his score was five by the wicketkeeper George Wood, and again at 30 in the slips by Frank Woolley: the first miss was reported by Wisden as being "as direct a chance as a wicket-keeper standing back could expect to get".

The fourth Test was ruined by rain, and Bob Catterall had only just arrived to bat on the first day when the match was interrupted by rain, and it never resumed.

The touring side played 14 first-class matches and five of them were against a team representing the whole of South Africa, and Bob Catterall played in all five of those games.

Bob Catterall achieved little in the early games when opening the innings, but as a middle-order batsman he played an innings of 86 that was instrumental in his team's success in the final game that enabled them to square the series.

The upturn in South African fortunes was based largely on the discovery of effective bowlers, and the batting, Bob Catterall included, remained consistent throughout the series.

Bob Catterall was not successful in the second Test, but in the third his second-innings 76 was one of five South African scores between 60 and 80 that secured a draw after a substantial first-innings deficit.