"Alf", South Africa's third rugby captain, emulated "H.H." Castens feat in captaining South Africa at cricket. He led South Africa's cricketers in 1895/96 as an opening batsman and also scored a century against Natal when playing for Western Province.
Like Ben Duff, Marthinus Versfeld and "Chubb" Vigne, Alf played in all three tests against the touring 1891 British Isles, captaining South Africa in the third.
Alf, who was considerd the equal of any of the visitors, died in the Salisbury hospital on the 9th January, 1904 at the very early age of 36 years.