Tour of England and South Africa 1902             Captain : Joe Darling
	Tenth Australian tour    Tenth Test-playing tour of England by Australia.   First Test-playing tour of South Africa       (March - November 1902)	England's 1902 side is often said to be its strongest and the Australians' 1902 touring party might well be regarded as the strongest to represent Australia, too, given that Armstrong's 1921 side and Bradman's in 1948 played English teams weakened by years of war. With the 1902 teams evenly matched, the summer produced an exciting Test series, with extremely close finishes. 1902's weather had plenty of cold and rain which spoiled the first two Test matches. The Australians were caught on a sticky wicket and bowled out by Rhodes for 36 at Edgbaston before rain stopped any further play. Bad weather granted Lord's less than two hours of play.   Australia won the next two Tests with centuries coming from Hill and Trumper. The fourth Test saw Australia capture England's last wicket with only 4 needed to win.   In the final Test at The Oval England needed 263 to win and slumped to 48-5.  Jessop than came to the wicket. His 75-minute century had given England her chance.  With one wicket standing 15 runs were still needed but Hirst and Rhodes reached the target. The tour of South Africa that followed the England trip, postponed from 1899, was intended to clear the air after Australians had fought in battles of the Boer War but the cricketers were apprehensive about their safety.	All Australian tours     Previous tour England 1899   Next tour England 1905
	Members of the Test tour party  (15)     Openers:  Batsmen: Wicket-keeper: Slow bowlers: Fast bowlers:	W W Armstrong Vic 23 RHB   RFM   H Carter NSW 24 WK   J Darling S A 31 LHB   captain   R A Duff NSW 23 RHB   S E Gregory NSW 32 RHB   C Hill S A 25 LHB   A J Y Hopkins NSW 28 RFM   W P Howell NSW 32 RFM   E Jones S A 32 RF   J J Kelly NSW 35 WK   M A Noble NSW 29 RHB   RM   J V Saunders Vic 26 LM   H Trumble Vic 35 RM / OB   V T Trumper NSW 24 RHB	Average age of  team at time of first Test match  (29 May 1902) :    28 yrs  9 months.   Representation:   NSW  New South Wales (8) SA   South Australia (3) Vic  Victoria (3)     Key to type RHB Right-handed bat RM  Right arm medium paced bowler RFM  Right-arm fast medium OB   Off break WK  Wicket-keeper
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Gregory 29, Trumble 24, Darling 21, Kelly 18, Hill 16, Jones 16, Noble 14, Howell 12, Trumper 10, Armstrong 4, Duff 4, Hopkins 2, Saunders 1, Carter 0
	Team Officials	Major B J Wardill Manager R J Pope Doctor W H Creese Baggage / scorer F Hearne Umpire in South Africa
	Selectors	Hugh Trumble (Victoria),  Monty Noble  ( New South Wales),  Clem Hill ( South Australia).
	Selection	Unavailable:  none known The last four to be chosen were Howell, Hopkins, Jones and Saunders. Tour Party Completed and Announced :  4 March 1902. Not selected :
	Travel	The team left Adelaide on the 'Omrah' on 20 March 1902.  MacLaren's team accompanied them onboard.  Trumble came to England separately on the ' Oceania' The ship reached Plymouth on 25 April where Major Wardill, the manager, Gregory, Howell, Kelly and Saunders disembarked to catch the train to London.  The rest of the team sailed on to Tilbury.
	On-tour selection	Darling,  Trumper,  Gregory
	Reinforcements	Hugh Trumble missed early matches with a feverish cold and flu.  Roland Pope, 38, was asked to play in one first-class match.
	Fixtures/Results	Crystal Palace London County Drawn Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Won inns 4 r Kennington Oval Surrey Won inns 78 r Leyton Essex Drawn Leicester Leicestershire Won 7 w Oxford Oxford University Won inns 54 r Lord's M C C Drawn EDGBASTON ENGLAND  First Test DRAWN Headingley Yorkshire Lost 5 w Old Trafford Lancashire Drawn Cambridge Cambridge University Won inns 183 r LORD'S ENGLAND  Second Test DRAWN Eastbourne An England XI Won 131 r Derby Derbyshire Won 8 w Bradford Yorkshire Won 44 r Bradford An England XI Won 7 w † Edinburgh Scotland Won inns 105 r SHEFFIELD ENGLAND  Third Test WON 143 r Edgbaston Warwickshire Drawn Worcester Worcestershire Won 174 r Bristol Gloucestershire Won inns 222 r Taunton Somerset Drawn Kennington Oval Surrey Drawn OLD TRAFFORD ENGLAND  Fourth Test WON 3 r Leyton Essex Drawn Hove Sussex Drawn † Cardiff Glamorgan & Wiltshire Won 6 w Southampton Hampshire Won inns 79 r KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  Fifth Test LOST 1 w Lord's M C C Won inns 34 r Cheltenham Gloucestershire Won inns 10 r Canterbury Kent Won 89 r Lord's Middlesex Won 6 w Aigburth, Liverpool Lancashire Won 18 r Harrogate Players of England Won inns 47 r Scarborough C I Thornton's XI Drawn Hastings The South of England Drawn Bournemouth The South of England Won 61 r Kennington Oval Players Drawn   JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA  First Test DRAWN jOhannesburg XV  of Transvaal Drawn JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA Second Test WON 159 r Durban XV  of Natal Drawn Cape Town Western Province Won 282 r CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA  Third Test WON 10 w	† not first-class
	Test appearances on tour	v  England 5  -   Armstrong,  Darling,  Duff,  Gregory,  Hill,  Hopkins,  Kelly,  Noble,  Trumper 4  -   Saunders 3  -   Trumble 2  -   Jones 1  -   Howell 0  -   Carter   v South Africa 3  -  Armstrong,  Darling,  Duff,  Gregory,  Hill,  Hopkins,  Kelly, Noble,  Trumper 2  -  Howell, Saunders 1  -  Jones, Trumble.
	Highlights	•   Australia was dismissed for its lowest score in Tests (36) at Edgbaston. •   Trumper scored 104 before lunch on the first day of the Old Trafford Test match. •   Trumble  with 10 for 128 brought about England's downfall at Old Trafford though Saunders took the final wicket with only 3 runs to spare. •   Hugh Trumble took his best bowling figures of 12-89 in the following Test at The Oval. •   In the final match of the English tour at The Oval Trumper took his tour aggregate to 2570 runs.
	Tour Summary	P  W L  D Aban Test Matches   8   4 1   3 - Other first-class matches 32 19 1 12 - Minor matches   5   3 0   2 - All Matches 45 26 2 17 -
	Return to Australia	The team left Waterloo Station, London, at 11:30 am on Saturday 20 September for Southampton.  The sailed on the ' Dunvegan Castle' on 7 October.  On reaching Table Bay the ship hit a pierhead but fortunately there was no serious damage.  The train journey to Johannesburg took two further days of travel.   Trumble returned to Australia after only two matches in South Africa.  The Australians left Cape Town on 14 November on the 'Sophocles' for Melbourne.
	Finances
	Written accounts of the tour	"Victor Trumper and the 1902 Australians"  Lionel Brown. "The Eleventh Australian Tour 1902"  facsimile reprint 1992 with new foreword by Sir Donald Bradman.

Powered by Create