Tour of England 1998                 Captain : Hansie Cronje

24th official Test tour

Twelfth Test-playing tour of England by South Africa

     (May - August 1998)

Having already won the limited-overs Texaco series, South Africa let slip their winning position after going one-up in the Test series at Lord's. They just failed to close a victory in the third Test at Old Trafford and then lost the next two. The umpiring was erratic and nearly all of the marginal decisions favoured the home side - which arguably cost the tourists the final Test at Headingley when England had the best of a number of close lbw decisions.

It later emerged at the King Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing that, of 10 lbw decisions given at Headingley, 9 were given by Javed Akhtar against the South African team and 7 were regarded as dubious.

However, the South Africans had not helped themselves by scoring too slowly, Gary Kirsten’s double-century at Old Trafford taking 525 balls. The team performance was also affected by becoming very tired from participating in one of the last full-length tours of England that have now been consigned to history.

Rhodes and Donald were the stars of the team, and particular strengths also lay in the support bowling of Pollock and the batting of Cronje and Kallis. Nevertheless it was very disappointing to lose 1-2 after being poised to take a 2-0 lead in the third Test and to fail to reach the final of the one-day triangular.

Other South African tours

Previous Tour

Australia 1997-98

Next tour

New Zealand 1998-99

Next tour of England

2003

Members of the Test tour party   (17)

Opening batsmen Gary Kirsten, Adam Bacher, Gerhard Liebenberg,

Middle-order batsmen  Hansie Cronje, Daryl Cullinan, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes

Wicket-keepers  Mark Boucher.

Spin bowlers  Pat Symcox, Paul Adams.

Fast bowlers  Allan Donald, Brian MacMillan, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini. Nantie Hayward, Roger Telemachus /Steve Elworthy (r)

Provincial representation

Bo -  Boland (1)

Br - Border (2)

EP - Eastern Province (1)

FS - Free State (3)

G  - Gauteng (2)

N - Natal (4)

WP - Western Province (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(4 June 1998) :

       26 yrs 9 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cronje 46,  Kirsten 40,  Donald 42,  McMillan 37,  Cullinan 35,  Rhodes 31,  Pollock 21,  Symcox 17,  Adams 15,  Bacher 15,  Kallis 14,  Klusener 13,  Boucher 6,  Ntini 2,  Liebenberg 1,  Hayward 0,  Elworthy 0,  Rindel 0, Telemachus 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Peter Pollock (national selection convenor),  Gerald Majola,  Morice Garda,  Rushdie Magiet,  Mike Proctor,  Clive Rice,  Kepler Wessels.

Selection

Unavailable:   Dave Richardson and Fanie de Villiers had announced their retirements in March 1998.

Tour Party Announced :  24 April 1998.

Not selected :  H D Ackerman, D Benkenstein, S J Elworthy, H H Gibbs, A Hudson,  D Crookes, B Schultz

Brian Macmillan was surprisingly recalled.  This was South Africa’s largest tour party since re-admission (17 members).

Time between selection and departure from South Africa

  15 days

(24 April to 9 May)

Travel

The team left South Africa on 11 May, flying from Johannesburg, and arrived on 12 May. They were based at the Waldorf Hotel in London.

Symcox joined the team in Worcester on Wednesday as he was in Durban hosting his benefit banquet.

Time spent in England

   101 days

(11 May - 20 August)

On-tour selection panel

Bob Woolmer (coach),  Hansie Cronje (captain),  Gary Kirsten  (vice-captain)

Reinforcements

Steve Elworthy  replaced Roger Telemachus who returned home on 20 June with a shoulder injury.

Left-handed opener Mike Rindel was brought in for the one-day series because when Adam Bacher and Klusener had to return home early. Bacher flew back to Johannesburg on 28 July.

Allan Donald, who was to have left for South Africa before the one-day triangular to undergo treatment on his ankle, stayed with the squad when the Test series was lost.

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No - Northerns (formerly Northern Transvaal)

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in England before First Test:   24 days

(11 May - 4 June)

ODI  Texaco Trophy and Emirates Triangular Tournament

Test appearances on tour

5 -   Boucher, Cronje, Cullinan, Donald, Kallis, Kirsten, Rhodes

4 -   Adams, Liebenberg, Pollock.

3 -   Klusener

2 -   Ntini

1 -   Bacher, Elworthy, McMillan.

 Match Appearances

Highlights

•    Hansie Cronje ended a run of 31 Tests without a century with an aggressive x at Trent Bridge

Rhodes Kallis

•    Allan Donald took 33 wickets in the Test series

Tour Summary

Return to South Africa

Roger Telemachus returned home on 20 June with shoulder injury.

Adam Bacher (collar bone broken in the 2nd Test) and Lance Klusener (injured ankle) also had to return home early and missed the Emirates ODI series.

The team’s return from London was on 20 August.  The team arrived at Johannesburg airport on Friday 21 August.

Time away from South Africa    103 days  

(9 May to 21 August)

Finances