South Africa's celebrated googly attack of Reggie Schwarz, Bert Vogler, Aubrey Faulkner and Gordon White peaked in the 1905-06 home series and on the 1907 tour of England. By 1910-14 — the period covered by the Triangular Tournament and the 1913-14 Barnes series — the foursome had broken up and South Africa had no comparable bowling resource.
Bosanquet had invented the googly in the late 1890s. Schwarz, his Middlesex team-mate, brought it to South Africa around 1903.
By 1910 Vogler's drinking and the demands on Faulkner had begun to undo the unit. The 1912 Triangular exposed the gap.
From 1905 to 1909 South Africa had a unique advantage: four Test-class googly bowlers in the same side, all of whom had learned the delivery from B.J.T. Bosanquet via Schwarz. They beat England 4-1 at home in 1905-06 and were a serious threat in England in 1907. By 1910-14 the unit had broken up. Vogler's career declined through alcohol problems; he played his last Test in 1911. White, who had been a Tasmanian-born Cape Town businessman, retired from international cricket; he later died of disease on AIF service in 1918. Faulkner remained the great South African all-rounder, but with no bowling support he was overworked. Schwarz was now in business in London and increasingly out of cricket. The 1912 Triangular humiliation and the 1913-14 home defeat by Barnes's England were the consequences. South Africa would not become competitive again at Test level until the 1930s.
1905-06: SA win first home series 4-1 with googly attack
1907: Tour England as a serious force
1911: Vogler's last Test
1912: Triangular humiliation
1913-14: Lose 4-0 at home to Barnes's England
1918: Gordon White killed on Western Front
1903
Schwarz brings the googly to South Africa
1905-06
SA win first home Test series 4-1
1911
Vogler's last Test
1912
Triangular failure
1913-14
Lose 4-0 at home to England
“Without the four spinners South Africa were just another county side.”
South Africa's Test record from 1912 to 1929 was uniformly poor. Faulkner emigrated to England and ran a coaching school in Walham Green where he eventually committed suicide in 1930.
The break-up of the most distinctive bowling unit in pre-war Test cricket — and South Africa's slow descent into pre-isolation second-tier status.
The South African googly era of 1905-09 remains one of the most distinctive bowling units Test cricket has produced. Its rapid decline through 1910-14 is a cautionary case study in cricket development.
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