Tour of England 1912 (The Triangular Tournament)       Captain: Frank Mitchell
	Third official Test tour     SecondTest-playing tour of England by South Africa        (April - October 1912)	The Triangular Tournament was the brainchild of Sir Abe Bailey, a Test competition to be played in England between England, Australia and South Africa.  However, the weather was so poor in 1912, and so many of the leading players were not on show, that the project was a failure. Percy Sherwell was the original choice as captain but it was a major loss when this world-class wicket-keeper and natural leader withdrew.  Schwarz and White had turned down the opportunity to captain the side before Frank Mitchell, an employee of Bailey’s, was awarded the captaincy instead. This caused some astonishment not only because of his age and having not played regularly for six years, but mainly because he was English (he had even played in two Test matches for England), indicating how thin South Africa’s resources were. Non-selection of the great googly bowler Bert Vogler was the team’s other great loss. He withdrew because his tour fee to Australia was withheld for poor behaviour, and would not accept a compromise Despite their dismal results in the Triangular Tournament, the South Africans avoided defeat against every county except Lancashire. Faulkner, the only South African tourist ever to achieve the English ‘double’ of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season, and Pegler, who took 189 wickets, were the outstanding players in the side.	Other South African tours       Previous Test Tour Australia 1910-11     Next tour England 1924
	Members of the Test tour party (17)     Opening batsmen: Louis Tancred, Gerald Hartigan, Louis Stricker Middle-order batsmen:  Dave Nourse, Rolland Beaumont, Herbie Taylor, Frank Mitchell, Charles Llewellyn All-rounders: Aubrey Faulkner, Sibley Snooke, Gordon White Wicket-keepers: Tom Campbell, Tommy Ward Spin bowlers: Claude Carter,Sid Pegler, Reggie Schwarz Fast bowler: Joe Cox.	R Beaumont T 28 RHB   T Campbell T 30 WK   C P Carter T 31 SLA   J L Cox N 25 RFM   G A Faulkner T 31 RHB  LBG   G P D Hartigan B 27 RHB   RM   C B Llewellyn N 35 LHB   F Mitchell T 39 RHB   captain   A W Nourse N 34 LHB   LM   S J Pegler T 24 RM / LB   R O Schwarz T 37 LBG   S J Snooke T 31 RHB    RFM   L A Stricker T 28 RHB   L J Tancred T 35 RHB  opener   H W Taylor N 23 RHB  opener   T A Ward T 24 reserve WK   G C White T 30 RHB    LBG	Representation of teams:        Br - Border (1) N - Natal (4) T - Transvaal (11)         Average age of  team at time of first Test match (27 May 1912) :   30 yrs  6 months
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Nourse 21,  Faulkner 18,  Schwarz 17,  White 12,  Llewellyn 10,  Stricker 9, Tancred 9,  Snooke 8,  Pegler 5,  Campbell 4,  Beaumont 0,  Carter 0,  Cox 0,  Hartigan 0,  Taylor 0,  Ward 0,  Mitchell 0 (2 for England)
	Team Officials	G Allsop Manager   Baggage / scorer
	Selectors	P W Sherwell,  James Pegler (Chairman of SACA), ……
	Selection	The five-man selection committee met after three trial matches held at the end of December 1911. Its first proposal for a touring team was given out on 2 January Withdrawals:   On 6 February P W Sherwell withdrew for business reasons (so Mitchell would be captain).  A E E Vogler also withdrew because his tour fee from 1910-11 was not yet paid. The selectors met again on 15 February Unavailable:  William Shalders was unfit after pneumonia;  batsman Fred Susskind, 21, was attending (and playing for) Cambridge University. Kotze who would have come out of retirement to tour was not fit and Cox came into the side.  Deputy wicket-keeper Tommy Ward took the final place in the team. Then Billy Zulch withdrew and was replaced by Louis Stricker. Tour Party Announced :  13 March 1912. Not selected :  Jimmy Sinclair,  Louis Tapscott,  Ormy Pearse,  Fred le Roux. C B Llewellyn, engaged by Lancashire League club Accrington, would be unavailable to play on any Saturdays or bank holidays. Vogler who took ten wickets on his only appearance at the trials and then withdrew from the originally-named team, left Johannesburg on 19 May to take up a coaching post in Ireland.  Manager Allsop said he would not be invited to join the team.	Time between selection and departure from South Africa   22 days (13 March to 4 April)
	Travel	Departure from South Africa started with Nourse, Taylor and Cox boarding the ‘Balmoral Castle’ at Durban on 20 March, picking up Hartigan at East London, and meeting up with the Transvaal men in Cape Town. The team sailed from Cape Town on 4 April 1912 aboard the ‘Balmoral Castle’ and arrived at Southampton on Saturday 20 April. They were met by Snooke had travelled to England earlier, leaving on the ‘Gloucester Castle’ on 20 March as part of his honeymoon arrangements. Llewellyn, Faulkner and Schwarz were already in England.  Gordon White was allowed to leave South Africa a fortnight after the rest of the team on 24 April. He arrived on board the ‘Walmer Castle’ on 11 May.	Time spent in    154 days (20 April - 21 September)
	On-tour selection panel	Frank Mitchell (captain),  Louis Tancred  (vice-captain),  Reggie Schwarz (senior player).
	Reinforcements	None, although Hartigan was ill in June and then fractured his arm which left him unable to play again on the tour.  In July Schwarz dropped out midway through the tour.
	Fixtures/Results	Derby Derbyshire Won 7 w Kennington Oval Surrey Won 52 r Lord’s M C C Lost 108 r Huddersfield Yorkshire Drawn Oxford Oxford University Drawn Worcester Worcestershire Won inns 42 r OLD TRAFFORD AUSTRALIA  First Test LOST inns 88 r Northampton Northamptonshire Drawn Cambridge Cambridge University Won 10 w Kennington Oval Surrey Drawn LORD’S ENGLAND  First Test LOST inns 62 r Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Drawn Bath Somerset Drawn Swansea South Wales Won 230 r Glasgow Scotland Won inns 97 r Edinburgh Scotland Won inns 97 r Lord’s Middlesex Drawn Edgbaston Warwickshire Won 6 w HEADINGLEY ENGLAND  Second Test LOST 174 r LORD’S AUSTRALIA  Second Test LOST 10 w Maidstone Kent Drawn Bray Woodbrook Club & Ground Drawn Bray Ireland Won inns 169 r Stoke-on-Trent Minor Counties Drawn Liverpool Lancashire Lost 225 r TRENT BRIDGE  AUSTRALIA  Third Test DRAWN Leicester Leicestershire Won 60 r KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  Third Test LOST 10 w Hove Sussex Won 4 w Sheffield Yorkshire Drawn Old Trafford Lancashire Drawn Leyton Essex Drawn Bristol Gloucestershire Won 2 w Bournemouth Hampshire Drawn Old Buckenham Lionel Robinson’s XI Lost 191 r Scarborough Lord Londesborough’s XI Drawn Hastings Gentlemen of England Won 6 w East Grinstead Sir Abe Bailey’s XI cancelled	† not first-class     Time spent in  before First Test:  37 days (20 April - 27 May 1912)
	Test appearances on tour	6  -  Faulkner,  Nourse,  Pegler,  Taylor 5  -  Llewellyn,  Snooke,  Ward,  White. 4  -  Stricker, Tancred 3  -  Beaumont,  Mitchell,  Schwarz 2  -  Carter,  Hartigan 1  -  Campbell 0  -  Cox.
	Highlights	•   Pegler took 6 wickets in the innings against Australia at Old Trafford and then 7 for 65 against England at Lord’s. •   Faulkner scored a century (122*) in South Africa’s defeat in the first match of the Triangular Tournament.
	Tour Summary	P  W L  D Aban Cancelled Test Matches   6   0 5   1 - - Other first-class matches 32 13 3 15 - 1 Minor matches   0 - - - - - All Matches 38 13 8 16 - -
	Return to South Africa	Snooke left for Cape Town on 17 August after playing in the Oval Test match. The touring party left England in two main groups:  Cox, Nourse, Pegler, Tancred, Taylor, Ward and White left Waterloo Station on the morning train for Southampton and embarked on the ‘Kildonan Castle’ on Saturday 21 September,  They arrived at Cape Town on 8 October. On the journey the ship passed within hailing distance of the ‘Kinfauns Castle’ and the cricketers yelled greeting to the Springbok rugby team sailing to England. The second group of tourists (Campbell, Carter, Hartigan, Stricker with the manager Allsop) sailed by way of Madeira on the ‘Walmer Castle’, arriving home on 15 October. Faulkner, Llewellyn and Schwarz (all now resident in Britain) and Mitchell (whose father was seriously ill) remained in England, as did Beaumont for a holiday.	Time away from South Africa     194 days   (4 April to 15 October)
	Finances	Gate receipts for the tour programme of matches were only £4000, the Tests giving an income of £1878. Overall, the tour made a loss of £2467.
	Published accounts of the tour	“Triangular Cricket”  by E H D Sewell  (J M Dent & Sons, 1912) “Before the Lights Went Out”  by Patrick Ferriday  (Von Krumm Publishing, 2011)

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