Louis Duffus

Who was Louis Duffus?

Louis George Duffus was a South African cricketer who became the country's most respected writer on the game.

He was educated in Johannesburg, being awarded a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He was a fine athlete and baseballer, as well as a cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper, who played in five first-class matches for Transvaal between 1923/24 and 1934/35. Meanwhile he had established himself as a cricket journalist, accompanying the South African national side on their 1929 tour of England and supplying copy for a number of British papers. Thereafter, until South Africa were barred from Test cricket some forty years later as a result of apartheid, he hardly missed a Test match in which they were involved. He covered more than one hundred in all. His Wisden obituary described him as conscientious, generous and very fair, with a delightful manner and a nice turn of phrase.

During the 1935 South African tour of England he was summoned from the press box to field as a substitute against Glamorgan. He caught Dyson at slip, which helped in ensuring the tourists' victory in front of a large Swansea crowd.