Jimmy Sinclair
James Hugh Sinclair (16 October 1876 – 23 February 1913) was a South African cricketer who played in 25 Test matches from 1896 to 1911. He scored South Africa's first three Test centuries and was the first person from any country to score a century and take five wickets in an innings in the same Test. He is one of the fastest-scoring Test batsmen of all time. Cricket career 1890s Jimmy Sinclair stood six feet four inches tall and was a "prodigious right-handed hitter and an excellent fast bowler, combining a nice variety of pace with a high delivery". He made his first-class debut for Transvaal in the 1892–93 Currie Cup a few weeks after turning 16, opening both bowling and batting, taking eight wickets and scoring 37 and 11. He took 10 wickets and top-scored with 75 for a Johannesburg XV against Lord Hawke's XI in 1895–96 and was selected for all three Tests that followed. At this stage in its history South Africa had played three Tests, all against England, and been so outclassed that no batsman had scored more than 29. That dismal record was not disturbed in the First Test in 1895–96, but in the Second Test Sinclair set a new record, scoring 40 in the first innings. He finished the series South Africa's second-highest scorer with 103 runs at an average of 17.16 and, opening the bowling, South Africa's second-highest wicket-taker with eight wickets at an average of 30.37. South Africa lost all three Tests by large margins. In February 1897 Sinclair scored 301 not out in a club game, which remained the highest score in any form of cricket in South Africa for many years. South Africa's next Tests came in 1898–99, with a two-match series against England. This time, thanks largely to Sinclair, the matches were more evenly contested, and South Africa gained a first-innings lead each time before losing. He did not bowl in the First Test, but scored 86, South Africa's first Test fifty, opening the first innings; apart from Pelham Warner's 132 in England's second innings, no one else in the match reached 40. In the Second Test Sinclair became the first person from any country to score a century and take five wickets in an innings in the same Test. In England's first innings he took 6 for 30, dismissing them for 92, then went in to bat with South Africa's score at 27 for 2 to make 106 before being last out with the total on 177. He was caught on the boundary in each innings. 1900s Sinclair fought on the British side in the Boer War. In December 1899 it was recorded that he had joined Little's scouts and that he had expressed as fervent a desire to bowl over a few Boers as he did to knock out Lord Hawke's team in the final Test at Cape Town. He had a difficulty in that there was no patrol jacket big enough to fit him. He was