Schwarz left for South Africa a discarded journeyman but returned to torment English batsmen before succumbing to the Spanish flu pandemic
In 1902, before what would prove Reggie Schwarz’s final summer as an Englishman, Surrey’s Henry Leveson-Gower wrote a preview of the county season in which the then Middlesex player received a brief mention. “It seems that all those who appeared for the metropolitan county last year will again be available, though Mr RO Schwarz is not likely to play.” That’s because he wasn’t good enough: just about good enough to be on Middlesex’s books, Schwarz – who had already played three times for England at rugby union – was not considered good enough to actually play for them.
As it happens he did get a few games in 1902 but didn’t do much to change anyone’s opinion of him, averaging 8.12 with the bat across 18 innings, bowling only 30 overs and taking a single wicket. On 1 September his final innings ended with a duck, and six days later he boarded the Kingfauns Castle, heading for a new life in South Africa. The following March the Sportsman mentioned him in a summary of Cape cricket: “He has been singularly unlucky, and in his last few matches has been dead out of form. It may be that the change of climate has had its effect on his play.”
Written by Simon Burnton
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/mar/24/the-spin-cricket-email-how-middlesex-reject-reggie-schwarz-became-an-early-master-of-the-googly under the title “The Spin | How Middlesex reject Reggie Schwarz became an early master of the googly”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
