[1] Catterall was a right-handed batsman, usually batting in the middle order but sometimes in the earlier part of his career used as an opener, and a right-arm medium-pace bowler often used to break troublesome partnerships, though he did not take any Test wickets until the final series that he played in.
[2] He made his first-class cricket debut for Transvaal in 1920–21, achieving little in two games, but the following season he played regularly and was a consistent scorer, averaging more than 42 although he passed 50 only twice and his highest score was only 75.
[6] By contrast, the third game of the series was a high-scoring slow-scoring draw in which a day was lost to rain: Catterall made 52 in his only innings, this time opening with Taylor and putting on 110 for the first wicket.
[8] With scores of 31 and 8 he was less successful in the fourth Test, and in the final game, which England won to take the series, he also performed modestly, making 17 and 22 in the two innings.
[2] The Test series began badly for the South Africans: in reply to an England total of 438 made through consistent batting, the touring team were shot out in 45 minutes for just 30 in 12-and-a-half overs by Arthur Gilligan and Maurice Tate, with Catterall, opening the innings, failing to score.
[16] He benefited from being dropped when his score was five by the wicketkeeper George Wood, and again at 30 in the slips by Frank Woolley: the first miss was reported by Wisden as being "as direct a chance as a wicket-keeper standing back could expect to get".
[26] In the event, that expectation proved less and less realistic as the tour went on: England duly won the first two Tests, but the third was drawn, and South Africa then squared the series by winning the final two games.
The upturn in South African fortunes was based largely on the discovery of effective bowlers, and the batting, Catterall included, remained consistent throughout the series.