| Tour of South Africa 1905-06
Captain : Pelham Warner
 | |
| | (M.C.C.
tour) | | |
| England’s eighteenth Test tour. (November 1905 - April 1906 ) Fifth Test-playing tour of
South Africa
by an English side (previous tour 1898-99) | M.C.C., being entirely
satisfied with P F Warner's leadership
in Australia in 1903-04,
appointed him to captain its first tour of South Africa. However, letters
uncovered by Roger Mann show that the M.C.C. Committee had, firstly, invited
J R Mason on 3 July to lead the side instead. In 'Long Innings' Warner wrote : "Our programme was a heavy one. Between December 2 and April 2
we played twenty-six matches, which meant sixty-six days' cricket and
travelled 6348 miles by railway, in addition to a sea voyage between Durban and East London.
No fewer than twenty-two nights were spent in the train." For the first time in five visits South Africa
bettered an English side in the Test matches, winning by the comfortable
margin of 4-1, owing to the batsmen's inability to play the spinning ball on
matting pitches. The side was not representative of the full strength of
English cricket but such a margin pointed to the improvement in standards
that had taken place in South
Africa. Afterwards the 1907 tour of England
by Sherwell's South Africans became deservedly a full Test tour. For England the first match was a long battle to
defend a target of 284 which South Africa reached with one wicket in hand, giving
their batsmen confidence for the next two Test matches. At the same time a
lack of form on the part of the touring batsmen gave a fillip to South
African and a pause to English cricket . Only Blythe’s heroic bowling
performance in Cape Town
brought the compensation of one victory All the fixtures were played on matting pitches and
turf wickets did not become the norm in South Africa until 1926 England were, as was then customary, weakened by
unavailability. Moreover the tour was beset by problems of illness: Board,
Hayes and Wynyard all went down sick and Lees's cricket was affected by his
illness from the previous autumn. | All England tours Previous Test tour Australia 1903-04(M.C.C.) Next Test tour Australia 1907-08 Next tour of South Africa 1909-10 | |
| Members
of the Test tour party (14) Opening batsmen: Pelham Warner, Teddy Wynyard Middle-order batsmen David Denton, Francis Fane,
Ted Hayes, Henry Leveson-Gower, Leonard Moon Wicket-keeper: Jack Board All-rounder: Jack Crawford Slow bowlers: Colin Blythe, Jock Hartley, Albert Relf Fast
bowlers: Schofield Haigh, Walter
Lees | Blythe, C
added | Kt | 26 | SLA | | Board, J H | Gs | 38 | RHB WK | | Mr J N Crawford | Sy | 19 | RHB opener RM | | E G Dennett w/d | Gs | 26 | SLA | | Denton, D | Yo | 31 | RHB | | Mr F L Fane | Ex | 30 | RHB vice-captain | | Haigh, S | Yo | 34 | RFM | | Col J C Hartley | (Sx) | 34 | LB | | Hayes, E G | Sy | 29 | RHB (LB) | | Lees, W S | Sy | 30 | RFM | | Mr H D
G Leveson-Gower | Sy | 32 | RHB | | Mr L
J Moon | Mx | 27 | RHB second WK | | Relf, A E | Sx | 31 | RHB OB/
RM | | Mr P F Warner | Mx | 32 | RHB opener captain | | Major E G Wynyard | Ha | 44 | RHB opener | |
| County
representation: Ex -
Essex (1) Gs - Gloucestershire (1) Ha - Hampshire (1) Kt - Kent (1) Mx - Middlesex (2) Sy - Surrey
(4) Sx - Sussex (2) Y - Yorkshire
(2) Hartley had not played for Sussex
since 1898. Average age of team at time of first Test match (11 December 1905) 31 years 6 months. | |
| Test
Appearances made before the tour | Warner 7, Blythe 6, Haigh 4, Board 2, Relf 2, Denton 1, Wynyard 1, Crawford 0, Fane 0, Hartley 0, Hayes 0, Lees 0, Leveson-Gower 0, Moon 0. | | |
| Tour
Officials | | | |
| Selectors | | | |
| Selection | By mid-September arrangements
for the tour were still not made. Unavailable : Lord Hawke and Jack Mason both declined to
captain the side. Sydney Barnes
(Staffs); George Thompson (Northants); Henry Martyn (Somerset WK) were not available. Withdrawal: George
Dennett. Gloucestershire withdrew
Dennett from the team on 21 September as it was felt that the strain might
impair his performances in 1906. Colin
Blythe was asked to take his place in the tour party. Dennett was the second
highest wicket-taker in first-class cricket never to play in a Test match. Tour party announced : on 1905. Some dissatisfaction about the strength of the team was expressed
on the part of the South African press. Bosanquet, Hayward
and Quaife, for example, from the previous touring side to Australia
would have been welcome | Time between selection and
departure from England days (late-September - 11 November) | |
| Travel Southampton T Cape Town ‘Kinfauns Castle’ | The team assembled at Waterloo Station on 11 November and caught
the 11.30 train down to Southampton Docks, except EG Wynyard who had made
his own way there earlier. They sailed that day from Southampton on the 'Kinfauns Castle'. After a rough passage the ship arrived at Cape Town on 28 November and were taken to
the City Hall for a civic lunch | Time spent in South Africa 127 days (28 November - 4 April | |
| Reinforcements | Sir Godfrey Lagden, the Commissioner for Native Affairs in South Africa,
was invited to play against The Army in his only first-class appearance.Manager Ivor
Difford played in the minor match against South-west
Districts just before the run of Test matches. | | |
| Fixtures/Results Except in the five matches
indicated, MCC put out eleven players | a | ϯ Cape Town | 'scratch game' | unknown | b | Cape
Town | Western Provinces | Won inns 127 | c | ϯ Worcester | Worcester &
District (12 v 18) | Won inns 52 | d | Cape
Town | Western Province | Won 10 w | e | ϯ Kimberley | Griqualand West (12 v 15) | Won 11 w | f | ϯ Kimberley | Griqualand West (12 v 15) | Won inns 12 | g | Johannesburg | Transvaal | Lost 60 r | h | ϯ Potschefstroom | Potschesfroom &
Dist 18 | Won inns 110 | i | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA First Test | LOST 1 w | j | † Pretoria | Pretoria | Won inns 70 | k | ϯ Middelburg | Middleburg &
District 18 | Won inns 119 | l | Roberts Heights, Pretoria | The Army | Won inns 218 | m | Durban | Natal | Won 4 w | n | Pietermaritzburg | Natal | Won 4 w | o | † East London | The Border 15 | Won inns 13 | p | † Kingwilliamstown | King Williams Town (12 v
15) | Won inns 296 | q | † Queenstown | Queenstown (12 v 18) | Won inns 176 | r | † Cradock | Midlands 22 | Drawn | s | † Grahamstown | Albany 18 | Drawn | t | † Port Elizabeth | Port Elizabeth 15 | Won inns 77 | u | Port
Elizabeth | Eastern Province | Won 10 w | v | † Oudtschoorn | South-west Districts 22 | Drawn | w | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Second Test | LOST 9 w | x | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Third Test | LOST 243 r | y | † Bloemfontein | Orange
River Colony 15 | Drawn | z | CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA Fourth
Test | WON 4 w | a’ | CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA Fifth Test | LOST inns 16 |
| † not first-class Time spent in South Africa before First
Test: 35 days (28
November - 2
January) | |
| Test
appearances on tour (v South Africa 1905-06) | 5 - Blythe, Crawford, Denton,
Fane, Haigh, Lees, Relf, Warner. 4 - Board, Moon. 3 - Hayes. 2 - Hartley, Wynyard. 0 - Leveson-Gower. | | |
| Match
appearances T Test match x other match ∙ played for opposition W won L lost D drawn N no
result A abandoned u unknown
result | | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | a‘ | Blythe | | x | | | | x | x | x | T | | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | | T | T | x | T | T | Board | | x | x | | x | x | x | | T | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | x | | x | | x | T | | | T | T | Crawford | | x | x | x | | x | | x | T | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | x | x | T | T | | T | T | Denton | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | | x | | T | T | x | T | T | Difford | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | x | | | | | | Fane | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | x | x | x | x | x | | x | | x | x | x | x | x | T | T | x | T | T | Haigh | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | T | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | T | T | x | T | T | Hartley | | x | x | | x | x | | x | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | T | x | | T | Hayes | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | x | | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | | T | x | T | | Lagden | | | | | | | | | | | | x | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Lees | | | x | x | x | x | x | | T | | x | | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | T | T | x | T | T | L-Gower | | | x | x | | x | | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | | | x | | | Moon | | | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | T | T | x | T | T | Relf | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | x | x | | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | T | T | x | T | T | Warner | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | T | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | T | T | x | T | T | Wynyard | | x | | x | x | x | x | | T | x | | | | | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | | | | | R E S U L T S | u | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | D | L | L | D | W | L |
| | |
| Highlights | • Walter Lees took five cheap wickets
dismissing South Africa
for only 91 in the opening Test. • Lees
again took 6-78 in the third Test played at Johannesburg. • Francis Fane scored England’s
only Test century (143) in the third match. • Colin Blythe took 11 wickets for 118 runs in
the fourth Test, the only Test match which England won. • Again Fane was the star batsman, his 65 not
out guiding England to a 4
wicket victory in the Cape Town
Test.. | | |
| Tour
Summary * excludes the scrtach game at the start of the tour. | | P | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | Other first-class matches | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | - | †Minor matches | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | - | All Matches * | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | - |
| | |
| Return
to England Cape Town T Southampton ‘Norman’ | E.G.Wynyard, who was unwell,
returned home early. Leveson-Gower and Moon remained in South Africa at the end of the
tour. The team sailed from Table Bay, Cape Town,
on the 'Norman' on 4 April, calling at
Madeira on 17 April, and arriving at Southampton
four days later. | Time away from England 161 days
(11 November -21 April) | |
| Finances | After incurring a loss on their first tour in 1903-04, M.C.C.
obtained a guarantee against loss from the South African Cricket Association | | |
| Accounts
of the tour | The M.C.C. in South
Africa" by P.F.Warner. | | |
| Postscript | The | | |