Tour of South Africa 1930-31                    Captain :  Percy Chapman            

Thirtieth England Test tour.

(October 1930 - March 1931)

Tenth Test playing tour of South Africa by an English side

   (previous tour 1927-28)

The omission of Herbert Sutcliffe from the tour party was quickly seen as a blunder, but when he was invited later in the 1930 season to join the team, he declined. He said he was now committed to playing in India for the Maharaja of Vizianagram's XI.

England were beaten in a thrilling first Test match, mainly by the specialist matting bowler Nupen who was captaining South Africa and captured eleven wickets. Thereafter England came close but often thwarted by rain could not quite win any of the four remaining matches. It was the first time that England, playing her full-strength team or nearly so, had lost a rubber to South Africa.

South Africa’s victory was won against a background of dissent within the team and three different captains leading the side. The Cape Town Test made an end to playing on matting pitches and all future Tests in South Africa would be played on turf.

All England tours

Previous Test tours

New Zealand 1929-30

West Indies 1929-30

Next Test tour

Australia 1932-33

Next tour of South Africa

1938-39

Members of the Test tour party (15  + 1)

Opening batsmen:  Bob Wyatt, Andrew Sandham, (+ Harry Lee replacement player)

Middle-order batsmen Percy Chapman, Wally Hammond, Patsy Hendren, Morice Leyland, Maurice Turnbull,

Wicket-keepers: George Duckworth, Bill Farrimond

All-rounder: 

Slow bowlers: Tom Goddard, Ian Peebles, Jack White

Fast bowlers: Maurice Allom, Maurice Tate, Bill Voce.

County representation:

Gm - Gamorgan (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (2)

Kt - Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Y - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(24 December 1930) :

 30 yrs  6 months.

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

Hendren 38, Tate 31, Hammond 22, Chapman 21, Duckworth 16, Sandham 14, White 11, Leyland 10, Wyatt 10, Peebles 6, Allom 4, Voce 4, Goddard 1, Turnbull 1, Farrimond 0, Lee 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Henry Leveson-Gower(chairman),  Percy Chapman,  Jack White,  Frank Mann, assisted by Jack Hobbs and Wilfred Rhodes.

Selection

Unavailable:  Gubby Allen, Douglas Jardine, Harold Larwood, Jack Hobbs (agreed to play in India)

Tour Party Announced :  18 July 1930.

Withdrawal:  Les Ames declined his invitation  and was replaced by Bill Farrimond, Lancashire's reserve wicket-keeper.

Not selected : Herbert Sutcliffe, Frank Woolley.

Time between selection and departure from England

   90 days

 (18 July - 17 October)

Travel

Southampton    T    Cape Town

               ‘Edinburgh Castle’

Pre-tour match against Lord Hawke's XI.

The team left Southampton on 17 October, sailing via Madeira on the mail boat 'Edinburgh Castle',  reaching Cape Town on Monday 3 November, an 18 day journey.

Time spent in South Africa

    120 days

(3 November  -  3 March)

On-tour selection panel

Percy Chapman (captain),  Jack White (vice-captain),  Bob Wyatt,  Patsy Hendren (senior professional)

Reinforcements

Harry Lee, on a coaching assignment at the Cape, joined the team in the New Year. He replaced Andrew Sandham who after three matches was injured in a car accident in Durban.

George Duckworth missed the end of the tour with pneumonia. 

Owing to illness Chapman was was unable to turn out against Northern Rhodesia at Livingstone so Bob Crisp, the young Rhodesian fast bowler, made up the M.C.C. team. He was on holiday trip to Victoria Falls from his home in Bulawayo.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:  

 51 days

(3 November - 24 December)

Test appearances on tour

    (v South Africa 1930-31)

5 -   Chapman,  Hammond,  Hendren,  Leyland,  Peebles,  Tate,  Turnbull,  Voce,  Wyatt.

4 -   White

3 -   Duckworth

2 -   Farrimond.

1 -   Allom,  Lee

0 -   Goddard,  Sandham.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

p  practice match

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   C  cancelled 

A abandoned

u unknown result

Highlights

•   Bill Voce took 4-45 and 4-59 in the opening Test at Johannesburg, and 5-58 in the third Test at Durban

•   In the first four Tests Wally Hammond made consecutive scores of 49, 63, 57, 65, 136*, 75 and 15.

•   At Durban Bob Wyatt and emergency opener Hammond made an opening partnership of 160

•   In the fourth Test Ian Peebles captured six wickets for 63, including three wickets with his last five deliveries

•   Walter Hammond was the only one to top 1000 first-class runs on tour though Hendren came close with 914 (and he scored a further 200 runs in the non first-class matches).

Tour Summary

Return to England

Cape Town   T   Southampton

           ‘Balmoral Castle’

The team departed from Cape Town on the 'Balmoral Castle' on 13 March 1931, arriving at Southampton on 30 March.

Hammond travelled separately, as did Turnbull and Allom who returned on HMS 'Calcutta', via St Helena and Sierra leone, eventually arriving home at Victoria Station.

Time away from England

  164 days  

(17 October -30 March)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"The Two Maurices Again"  by Maurice Turnbull and Maurice Allom  (pub E Allom, London, 1931)

  [being some account of the tour of the M.C.C. team through South Africa in the closing months of 1930 and the beginning of 1931]

Postscript