Tour of England 1955                   Captain: Jack Cheetham
	Eleventh official test tour   Eighth Test-playing tour of England by South Africa       (April - September 1955)	The first South African team to fly abroad made seven stops and took 26 hours to reach Heathrow. The engrossing series of 1955 was the first occasion in England on which each Test of a five-match series produced a result.  England claimed comfortable victories in the first two Test matches, only to falter in the next two. Cheetham broke a bone in his elbow at Lord’s and missed these two Test matches so vice-captain McGlew had to take over and won both times. A narrow victory was gained with only nine balls to spare in the third Test before giving England a thorough beating in the fourth. This brought the series to a climax at The Oval with the teams all-square but the visitors suffered a great disappointment by collapsing against Lock and Laker after twice dismissing England cheaply. They lost the match and thus the rubber. However, only the South African side of 1935 had achieved better results in England before and it confirmed the progress made two years previously in Australia.	Other South African tours     Previous Tour New Zealand 1952-53     Next tour England 1960
	Members of the Test tour party (16)     Opening batsmen:  Jackie McGlew, Trevor Goddard Middle-order batsmen  Jack Cheetham, Roy McLean, Russell Endean, Headley Keith, Paul Winslow. Wicket-keepers  Chris Duckworth, John Waite Spin bowlers  Hugh Tayfield, Ian Smith Fast bowlers  Neil Adcock, Peter Heine, Eddie Fuller, Anton Murray, Percy Mansell	N A T Adcock T 24 RF   J E Cheetham WP 35 RHB   captain   C A R Duckworth R 22 RHB    second WK   W R Endean T 31 RHB   E R H Fuller WP 23 RFM   T L Goddard Nx 23 LHB   LM   P S Heine OFS 26 RF   H J Keith N 27 LHB   (SLA)   D J McGlew N 26 RHB   R A McLean N 24 RHB   P N F Mansell R 35 RHB    RM   A R A Murray EP 33 RM   V I Smith Nx 30 LB   H J Tayfield Nx 26 OB   J H B Waite T 25 RHB   WK   P L Winslow T 26 RHB	Representation of teams:       EP Eastern Province (1) N - Natal (6) OFS - Orange Free State (1) R - Rhodesia (2) T - Transvaal (4) WP - Western Province (2)         Average age of  team at time of first Test match   (9 June 1955) :        27 yrs  7 months
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Cheetham 21,  Tayfield 17,  Waite 16,  McLean 14,  Endean 13,  McGlew 13,  Murray 10,  Mansell 9,  Smith 7,  Adcock 5,  Fuller 4,  Winslow 2,  Keith 1,  Duckworth 0,  Goddard 0,  Heine 0.
	Team Officials	K G Viljoen Manager M MacLennan Baggage-scorer
	Selectors	A R Ralph (convenor),  G W A Chubb,  A D Nourse,  A Melville.
	Selection	Unavailable:   C B van Ryneveld (for business reasons -  a lawyer) Tour Party Announced:  29 January 1955. Not selected:	Time between selection and departure from South Africa   84 days (29 January to 23 April)
	Travel	Departure was on 23 April.   The team flew from Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, via Lusaka, Cairo and Rome, arriving at London Airport on 24 April.	Time spent on tour in England       149 days (24 April - 20 September)
	On-tour selection panel	Jack Cheetham (captain),  Jackie McGlew  (vice-captain),  Russell Endean,  Ken Viljoen (manager).
	Reinforcements	None.  Cheetham broke a bone in his elbow at Lord’s and missed these two Test matches in which McGlew deputised and won both matches. Adcock broke a bone in his foot and missed the Test match at Headingley.
	Fixtures/Results	ϯ Blackheath Union Castle   Worcester Worcestershire Lost 117 r Derby Derbyshire Drawn Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire Drawn Cambridge Cambridge University Drawn Lord’s M C C Won 93 r Oxford Oxford University Won inns 137 r Cardiff Glamorgan Drawn Colchester Essex Drawn Old Trafford Lancashire Drawn TRENT BRIDGE ENGLAND  First Test LOST inns 5 r Taunton Somerset Won inns 32 r Hove Sussex Won 9 w LORD’S ENGLAND  Second Test LOST 71 r Northampton Northamptonshire Drawn Sheffield Yorkshire Won 193 r OLD TRAFFORD ENGLAND  Third Test WON 3 w Kennington Oval Surrey Won 82 r HEADINGLEY ENGLAND  Fourth Test WON 224 r ϯ Stoke-on-Trent Minor Counties Drawn Swansea Glamorgan Won 226 r Edgbaston Warwickshire Won 10 w Cheltenham Gloucestershire Drawn Leicester Leicestershire Won inns 117 r KENNINGTON OVAL ENGLAND  Fifth Test LOST 92 r Southampton Hampshire Won 275 r Canterbury Kent Won 8 w Lord’s Middlesex Won 235 r Hastings England XI Drawn ϯ Sunderland Durham Won inns 324 r Scarborough T N Pearce’s XI Won 4 w ϯ Carlisle Cumberland & Westmoreland Drawn	† not first-class   Time spent in England before First Test:  46 days     (24 April - 9 June)
	Test appearances on tour	5  -  Endean,  Goddard,  McGlew,  McLean,  Tayfield,  Waite. 4  -  Adcock,  Heine,  Keith,  Mansell 3  -  Cheetham,  Winslow 2  -  Fuller 1  -  Smith 0  -  Duckworth,  Murray.
	Highlights	•    Heine had bowling figures of 5-60 at Lord’s and 5-68 at Old Trafford •    Three South Africans scored centuries in the innings at Old Trafford: McGlew 104*, Waite 113 and Winslow 108 as South Africa accumulated 521 runs •    McGlew (133) and Endean (116*) also scored Test centuries at Headingley where South Africa again totalled 500 for the innings. •    McGlew scored 476 runs in the series despite bagging a pair at Lord’s. •    Against Lancashire Winslow hit spinner Jack Ikin for 30 runs (4,4,6,6,4,6) off one over •    Tayfield took 26 wickets in the Test series and 143 on the whole tour
	Tour Summary	P  W L  D Aban Test Matches   5   2 3   0 - Other first-class matches 23 13 1   9 - †Minor matches   3   1 0   2 - All Matches 31 16 4 11 -
	Return to South Africa	The flight home was postponed by a day, delayed by an electrical fault in the South African Airways Constellation so members of the team spent the day sightseeing.  They were able to leave at 9:30 am the following day, 20 September, on the same plane.  Arrangement to convey players on to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Rhodesia on arrival at Johannesburg all needed to be re-made. Paul Winslow remained in England to marry the actress Moira Gray at Purley in October.	Time away from South Africa    150 days   (23 April to 20 September)
	Finances	Profit £ 36 000
	Published accounts of the tour	“I Declare”  by Jack Cheetham “Behind the South African Tests”  by Norman Cutler “Springbok Glory”  by  Louis Duffus “England vs South Africa”  by Bruce Harris “Almost Champions”  by Werner Bernhard (the first book on a South African tour in Afrikaans).

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