Sinclair was quite tall and well built, he hit the ball hard and bolwed very fast. He was the main catalyst that put South Africa on the cricketing map. Sinclair was the first South African to score a Test hundred and that too against an all conqureing England side led by Lord Hawke.

As is the most case of hard-hitters, Sinclair faced many bad days compared to good with the bat. He did not have the best of tours to England in 1901. However, against Australia in 1902-03, Sinclair scored back to back hundreds, the second one coming in just 80 minutes. One thing with all-rounders is that they can make up with bat or bowl if they fail in one, even though Sinclair had a poor outing with the bat in 1905 he made it up with the ball by scalping 21 wickets against England.

Sinclair died in 1913 just aged 36. He has a distinction of representing his country in cricket, rugby and football.


by Akshay Maanay
As of May 2014