Tour of England 1947              Captain: Alan Melville
	Eighth official test tour   Sixth Test-playing tour of England by South Africa       (April - September 1947)	On their sixth official visit the South Africans relied for batting upon their veteran players. The selectors decided to do without Eric Rowan and did not pick him. Whether or not they might have enjoyed more success in future years by balancing this level of experience with giving more responsibility to younger players - only two were aged under 25 - the brilliant if ageing Nourse, Melville and Mitchell were the standout players on this tour. Among the bowlers, none really shone but they were up against Compton and Edrich at their best who took more than 2000 runs between them off the tourists’ bowling attack The tour party had seventeen members in readiness for anticipated injuries, and ironically was much less seriously affected by injury than on former tours.  This state of affairs worked to deprive some of the less experienced players of opportunities.	Other South African tours   Previous Tour England 1935   Next tour England 1951     Next tour of England 1951
	Members of the Test tour party (17)   Openers  Dennis Dyer, Alan Melville, Bruce Mitchell. Batsmen  Denis Begbie, George Fullerton, Tony Harris, Ken Viljoen, Dudley Nourse. Wicket-keepers  Johnny Lindsay, Douglas Ovenstone, Spin bowlers  ‘Tufty’ Mann, Leslie Payn, Ian Smith, Athol Rowan. Fast bowlers  Jack Plimsoll, Lindsay Tuckett, Ossie Dawson	D W Begbie T 32 RHB    (LB)   O C Dawson N 27 RM   D V Dyer N 33 RHB  opener   G M Fullerton T 24 RHB   deputy WK   T A Harris T 30 RHB   J D Lindsay NET 37 WK   N B F Mann EP 26 SLA   A Melville T 37 RHB opener   B Mitchell T 38 RHB  opener  LB   A D Nourse N 36 RHB   D M Ovenstone WP 25 second WK   L W Payn N 32 SLA   J B Plimsoll WP 29 LMF   A M B Rowan T 26 OB   V I Smith N 22 LB   L Tuckett OFS 28 RFM   K G Viljoen T 37 RHB	Representation of teams:       EP -  Eastern Province (1) N - Natal (5) NET - North-Eastern                  Transvaal (1) OFS - Orange Free State (1) T - Transvaal (7) WP - Western Province (2)         Average age of  team at time of first Test match (7 June 1947) :        31 yrs  6 months
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Mitchell 32,  Viljoen 20,  Nourse 14,  Melville 5,  Begbie 0,  Dawson 0,  Dyer 0,  Fullerton 0,  Harris 0,  Lindsay 0,  Mann 0,  Ovenstone 0,  Payn 0,  Plimsoll 0,  Rowan 0,  Smith 0,  Tuckett 0.
	Team Officials	Mr A S Frames Manager W Ferguson Baggage/ scorer   Frames was secretary of the South African Cricket Union. S Pitts, vice-chairman of the South African Cricket Association accompanied the team.
	Selectors	(Convenor of selectors),  J P H Howden,  A S Frames,  I J Siedle and C L Vincent, with A Melville co-opted onto the panel.
	Selection	Mr Frames was named as manager. The choice of Alan Melville (Transvaal), the former Oxford University and Sussex player, as captain was announced on 26 November 1946.   Unavailable: W W Wade (for health and business reasons) Tour Party Announced : 1 January 1947. Not selected :  Eric Rowan (“because of personality clashes” - Wisden).	Time between selection and departure from South Africa   93 days (1 January to 4 April 1947)
	Travel	Departure from South Africa was on 4 April 1947.  The team sailed on the ‘Capetown Castle’  from Cape Town to Southampton and arrived on 18 April.	Time spent in England    146 days (18 April - 11 September)
	On-tour selection panel	Melville,  Nourse,  Mitchell,  Frames (non-voting),
	Reinforcements	None.  Ovenstone broke a finger against Notts  but since there were two other wicket-keepers in the tour party, there was no need to replace him.
	Fixtures/Results	Worcester Worcestershire Lost 39 r Leicester Leicestershire Won 10 w Cambridge Cambridge University Won inns 153 r Kennington Oval Surrey Won 115 r Southampton Hampshire Drawn Lord’s M C C Lost 158 r Oxford Oxford University Drawn Cardiff Glamorgan Won inns 131 r Portsmouth Combined Services Won 7 w Lord’s Middlesex Drawn Northampton Northamptonshire Won inns 32 r TRENT BRIDGE ENGLAND  First Test DRAWN Taunton Somerset Won inns 43 r LORD’S ENGLAND  Second Test LOST 10 w Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Drawn ϯ Jesmond Northumberland Won inns 32 r OLD TRAFFORD ENGLAND  Third Test LOST  7 w ϯ Dublin Gentlemen of Ireland Drawn ϯ Belfast Gentlemen of Ireland Won inns 125 r ϯ Belfast Gentlemen of Ireland Lost 6 w Derby Derbyshire Won 3 w Sheffield Yorkshire Drawn ϯ Paisley Scotland Drawn HEADINGLEY ENGLAND  Fourth Test LOST 10 w Swansea Glamorgan Won 40 r Edgbaston Warwickshire Won inns 114 r Old Trafford Lancashire Drawn Cheltenham Gloucestershire Won 133 r KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  Fifth Test DRAWN Southend Essex Won 8 w Canterbury Kent Won 88 r Hove Sussex Drawn Hastings South of England Won 9 w ϯ Guildford Club Cricket Conference Drawn Scarborough H D G Leveson-Gower’s XI  cancelled	† not first-class   Time spent in  before First Test:     50 days (18 April  - 7 June)
	Test appearances on tour	5  -  Dawson,  Mann,  Melville,  Mitchell,  Nourse, Rowan,  Tuckett,  Viljoen. 4  -  Smith 3  -  Dyer,  Lindsay 2  -  Fullerton,  Harris 1  -  Plimsoll 0  -  Begbie,  Ovenstone,  Payn.
	Highlights	•   Alan Melville scored a century in each innings (189 and 104*) at Trent Bridge •   He and Nourse (149) shared a third wicket partnership of 319, the highest for any wicket for South Africa •   Melville scored 117 at Lord’s, his fourth Test century in consecutive innings (starting with 103 in 1939) •   Left-arm spinner Mann started his debut Test with eight successive maiden overs at Nottingham. •   At The Oval Mitchell equalled Melville’s feat of scoring a century in each innings (120 and 189*)
	Tour Summary	P  W L  D Aban Cancelled Test Matches   5   0 3   2 - - Other first-class matches 23 14 2   7 - 1 Minor matches   6   2 1   3 - - All Matches 34 16 6 12 - 1 -
	Return to South Africa	The final tour fixture, a festival match against H D G Leveson Gower’s XI was cancelled because of altered shipping arrangements. The team sailed from Southampton on the ‘Durban Castle’ on 11 September 1947. Although he was operated on for appendicitis the week before Dyer was able to travel with the team. The ship berthed at Cape Town’s E Dock at dawn on 25 September, exactly twenty five weeks after the team’s departure from South Africa. The Transvaal players left for the Rand, apart from Harris who sailed on to Durban with Payn and Smith.  Mann disembarked at Port Elizabeth.	Time away from South Africa    174 days   (4 April to 25 September)
	Finances	The profit was £11 000.
	Published accounts of the tour	“Two Summers at the Tests”  by John Arlott.

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