Sidney Kiel (18 July 1916 – 19 July 2007) was a South African doctor better known for his sporting career. Both a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er, he represented South Africa as a

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

at the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...

(now the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

), having earlier boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics. His cricket career as an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

spanned from 1939 to his retirement in 1947.

Early life and athletics career

Kiel was born to a Jewish family in Vrede,

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

, but moved to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

at the age of seven following his father's death. He was educated at South African College Schools (SACS) in Newlands, where he was head boy, captain of the cricket and athletics teams, and vice-captain of the rugby team. Kiel first ran for his country at the age of 16, while still at school. Following a 1935 race where he set a South African record for the 110 metres (or 120 yards) hurdles (and was timed within 0.5 seconds of the world record), he was included in the South African delegation for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but withdrew in opposition to the German regime's antisemitism.Maurice Silbert (October 2007
"Sid Kiel (18/ 07/1916 – 19/07/2007): The South African who boycotted Hitler's Games"
– '' South African Medical Journal'', vol. 97, no. 10. Retrieved 1 May 2015. At an October 1937 meet in Cape Town, Kiel recorded a personal best, 14.4 seconds, for the 110 metre hurdles. In that event at the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney, he placed fifth with a time of 14.7 seconds, with the gold medallist being another South African, Tom Lavery.

Cricket career

Finishing his athletics career, Kiel made his first-class cricket debut for Western Province during the 1939–40 season.First-class matches played by Sidney Kiel
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 May 2015. With the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

suspended at the time, Western Province's season consisted of two sets of three games, played at home in December 1939 and in the coastal cities of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, East London, and Port Elizabeth in March 1940. Opening with Pieter van der Bijl on debut against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

, Kiel recorded a golden duck, bowled by

Alfred Waddington Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of British Columbia, Canada. From 1860 to 1861 he was a re ...

. This however was followed by 36 in the second innings, with his next match, against North Eastern Transvaal, yielding a maiden first-class century, 139

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. Kiel finished his inaugural season for Western Province with 524 runs from six matches,First-class batting and fielding in each season by Sidney Kiel
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 May 2015. with a second century, 120, coming against Eastern Province in the last game of the season. A graduate of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

's medical school, Kiel joined the

South African Medical Corps South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

(a South African Army unit) during World War II, serving in the North African and Italian theatres. His cricket career was thus interrupted, with a game against Transvaal during the 1941–42 season being his only first-class match until the war's end. In that match, he came close to carrying his bat in Western Province's second innings, with his captain, Andrew Ralph, declaring at 236/8 when Kiel was undefeated on 128. Kiel managed two games during the 1945–46 season, which include a score of 77 against

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

,Natal v Western Province
First-Class matches in South Africa 1945/46 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 May 2015. and played in five out of six Currie Cup games during the 1946–47 season (the first edition of the tournament since the 1937–38 season). In what was to be his only Currie Cup season he scored 311 runs from 10 innings, including three half-centuries.

Later life

Kiel retired from cricket at the age of 30 to further his medical career, interning at Somerset Hospital before establishing a family practice in

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is one of Cape Town's most affluent and densely populated suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from ...

. He died in the suburb in July 2007, aged 91, having had a heart attack earlier in the year (and been confined to a wheelchair for several years). He had married Jean Kramer in 1949, and had a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Player profile and statistics
a
Cricket Archive
a
ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiel, Sid 1916 births 2007 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1938 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa Jewish cricketers South African cricketers South African male hurdlers Jewish South African sportspeople South African general practitioners University of Cape Town alumni Western Province cricketers Jewish male athletes (track and field) People from Phumelela Local Municipality South African military personnel of World War II South African people of German-Jewish descent