Frank Mitchell, the English-Born South Africa Captain of 1912

Mitchell played rugby for England in 1895-96 and cricket for Yorkshire and Cambridge before emigrating to South Africa.

By 1912 he was 40 and largely out of cricket. The selectors recalled him as the senior available leader.

Mitchell had been born in Hunslet, Yorkshire, in 1872. He played rugby for England in 1895-96 and cricket for Yorkshire and Cambridge in the 1890s. He had emigrated to South Africa in the early 1900s after the Boer War, qualifying eventually for the Transvaal. He had played two Tests for South Africa in 1909, captaining the side without distinction. By 1912 he was 40, had not played top-class cricket for some time, and was a curious choice as captain. The Big Six dispute had robbed Australia of its best players; the South African selectors faced a different problem — a thin pool of leaders — and turned to Mitchell as a man with experience of English conditions and the gravitas of having captained at international level. He led the side to five defeats. The choice was widely criticised in South African newspapers. He played his last Test in the tournament. Mitchell remains one of only a handful of cricketers to have represented England (in any sport) and South Africa, and the only South African Test captain to have been born in Yorkshire.

“Mitchell is too old, too long out of cricket, and too English for the job.”

Mitchell never played another Test. He returned to South Africa and worked in mining administration, dying in 1935.