English cricket team in South Africa in 1888-89

The 1888-89 South African cricket season saw the first two first-class cricket matches played in South Africa. However, this designation was given many years later. The season saw the first tour by an England team that was accorded first-class status. The tour was managed by Major Warton and captained by C. Aubrey Smith, under whose name the team played. The two games against representative South African sides were later designated as Test matches, thereby making them the first two Tests South Africa played. England won both of them easily.

First-class season overview

The English touring team of 1888-89 consisted of 7 county-standard players and 6 of good clubs standard. Altham compared them to a weak English county. The South African team was extremely weak, and these games were not recognised as Tests by England at the time. Indeed "Wisden's Cricketers Almanack" noted that "it was never intended, or considered necessary, to take out a representative English team for a first trip to the Cape". The England team did, however, include some stars such as Johnny Briggs and Bobby Abel, and George Ulyett, who replaced a player who had to return from South Africa due to a family bereavement.

Although the English team is said not to have paid its expenses, it was otherwise financially successful. The cricketers were warmly welcomed. England were led by Aubrey Smith, who became the most widely known of England's cricket captains as a result of becoming a "B" list Hollywood star. They played all their matches, except the two that later came to be regarded as Test matches, against odds, and lost some of them too. Of the 19 games they played, they won 13, including the 2 that later became recognised as Test matches, losing 4 and abandoning 2.

The matches

First Test - South Africa v England (12-13 March 1889)

In the first Test, which was played on a green matting wicket in Port Elizabeth, South African captain Owen Dunell won the toss against Aubrey Smith and chose to bat. The game did not last long: The matting wicket did not induce high scores, with England's 148 in their first innings being the highest score. Around 3,000 spectators attended the first day. The game ended at 3.30pm on the second day with a crushing win for England. [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3423.html Scorecard]

econd Test - South Africa v England (25-26 March 1889)

Monty Bowden became England's youngest ever Test captain aged 23 years 144 days in the Second Test at Newlands, Cape Town, replacing an injured Smith in Bowden's second and final Test. Bowden won the toss and chose to bat. 120 from opener Bobby Abel helped England to 292 all out on the first day. The South Africans then lost a quick wicket to finish day one on 2 for 1. South Africa were then totally humiliated on the second day. Johnny Briggs took 7 for 17 (six bowled) as South Africa fell to 47, although Bernard Tancred became the first batsman to carry his bat in a Test in reaching 26 not out, the only score in the innings in double figures. They then followed-on, with Briggs then taking 8 for 11 in the second innings as the hosts were all out for 43. Briggs's second innings wickets were all bowled, setting a Test record that still has not been bettered. He also set a Test records for the number wickets in an innings (8)and the match (15), both later surpassed. The other two wickets were one bowled (Arnold Fothergill) and one run out, making this the only instance of 9 batsmen being bowled in a Test innings. [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3424.html Scorecard]

Monty Bowden

Bowden died 3 years later after being trampled by his own oxen after falling from his cart (he had stayed in South Africa), possibly as a result of an epileptic fit, and who therefore may not have known he ever played Test cricket. It is said that his body, which was taken to Umtali hospital, had to be protected from marauding lions before being interred in a coffin made from old whiskey cases.

ee also

* History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/Seasonal_Averages/RSA/1888-89_f_Match_List.html CricketArchive]
* [http://stgeorgespark.upe.ac.za/content/matches/displayarticle.asp?artid=intertest_001 Report on the First Test from the St George's Park, Port Elizabeth website]

Further reading

* H S Altham, "A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)", George Allen & Unwin, 1926
* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* David Frith, "The Golden Age of Cricket 1890-1914", Lutterworth, 1978