After their breakthrough 1907 tour of England, South Africa's googly quartet — Reggie Schwarz, Bert Vogler, Aubrey Faulkner and Gordon White — anchored the side through the 1909-10 home Tests against England (won 3-2 by South Africa) and the 1910-11 tour of Australia. Vogler took 36 wickets in the 1909-10 home series; Faulkner emerged as the world's best all-rounder by 1910.
Schwarz had learned the googly from Bosanquet at Middlesex around 1903. He took it to Johannesburg, where Vogler, Faulkner and White (all younger) absorbed it during inter-provincial cricket. By 1907 the four were a coordinated bowling unit; by 1910 they were the principal South African Test attack.
White was perhaps the most stylish — a Johannesburg amateur who could bat and bowl. Vogler was the most accurate; Faulkner the most aggressive. Schwarz was the senior pro.
Between the 1907 England tour and the 1909-10 home series, South Africa played one home Test series (against England in 1905-06, won 4-1 by South Africa). The 1909-10 season was the next major test of the quartet.
South Africa's quartet of wrist-spinners had been the story of the 1907 England tour. The years that followed saw them mature into a permanent attacking unit. Schwarz, Vogler, Faulkner and White formed the bowling side of a team that, between 1906 and 1912, won six of 14 Tests at home and abroad — far above the 0-from-many of the pre-1905 era.
The defining home series was the 1909-10 Tests against the MCC at South African grounds. South Africa won 3-2 — their first Test series victory ever. Bert Vogler, the most accomplished of the four bowlers, took 36 wickets in the series at 21.75; Faulkner took 29 at 21.89 and made 545 runs at 60.55, more than any batsman on either side. Schwarz and White contributed lower totals but with the same wrist-spin variety that had bewildered England in 1907.
The 1910-11 tour to Australia was less successful (Australia won 4-1) but the bowlers continued to take wickets. Faulkner emerged as the world's leading all-rounder, and was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1911. The quartet broke up after 1912 — White retired, Schwarz and Vogler had personal difficulties, and only Faulkner continued into the post-war years (he played his last Test in 1924, against England). Three of the four served in WWI; only Faulkner survived to see normal cricket resume.
1907: First major England tour by South Africa; quartet emerges.
1908: Schwarz and Vogler named Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
1909-10 home Tests v MCC: SA win 3-2.
Vogler 36 wickets at 21.75; Faulkner 29 wickets, 545 runs.
1910-11 tour of Australia: SA lose 4-1 but bowlers competitive.
1911: Faulkner Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
1912 Triangular Tournament: SA last appears with the quartet.
WWI: Schwarz and White killed; Vogler's career ends; Faulkner survives.
1903
Schwarz learns googly from Bosanquet at Middlesex.
1905-06
South Africa beat England 4-1 at home.
1907
Quartet's breakthrough tour of England.
1909-10
South Africa beat England 3-2 at home.
1910-11
South Africa tour of Australia (lost 4-1).
1912 Triangular
Quartet plays in England together for last time.
1918
Schwarz and White die in WWI.
1930
Faulkner dies in London.
“Their googly bowling was a revelation.”
“Faulkner is the best all-rounder in the world.”
Schwarz contracted pneumonia and died on 18 November 1918, days after the Armistice — buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, France. White was killed at Cambrai in 1918. Vogler had personal and financial troubles in the 1910s and faded from cricket; he died in 1946.
Faulkner alone had a long post-war career. He coached at the Faulkner School of Cricket in London (one of the first proper coaching schools in cricket history), played his last Test for South Africa in 1924, and died by suicide in 1930.
A bowling group whose collective career changed South African cricket from minor to major. The 1909-10 series win was a landmark; the 1910-11 tour confirmed South Africa as a competitive third Test nation; the bowlers' adoption and propagation of the googly was a global influence on spin technique.
The quartet's collective effect on Test cricket was incalculable. They demonstrated that the googly could be the foundation of a Test attack, not just a variation. By 1920 every Test side had at least one wrist-spinner; by 1930 the technique was a standard part of the bowling vocabulary.
Faulkner is sometimes called the first great all-rounder; Schwarz is the bridge from Bosanquet to South African cricket; Vogler is the bowler who took the most wickets; White is the most romantic of the four. Their stories are intertwined and their cricket is one of the early 20th century's defining contributions to bowling history.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.