| Tour of South Africa
1914-15 Captain: Warwick Armstrong | |
| | Tour Cancelled | | |
| Would
have been 14th Australian Test tour Would have been second
Test-playing tour of South Africa by Australia (December 1914
-
April 1915) | The Australians had confirmed in November 1913 they would make
the 5½-month tour of South
Africa in 1914-15. There would be twenty
matches including five Tests. These were scheduled for Durban,
Cape Town and, uniquely, three matches in Johannesburg. Travelling
arrangements were also in place. (see
below). Jack Hobbs, who had just
returned from South Africa
with the 1913-14 M C C side, thought the Australians would be unable to cope
with matting pitches and would probably lose the series. However, the tour was put in doubt in August 1914 because of anticipated
war conditions. The South African Cricket Association was of the unanimous
opinion that a tour would be impossible and sent a cable on 13 August to
Sydney Smith, secretary of the Board of Control, advising that the tour be
pushed back. They requested for it to be held in 1915-16 instead, in the hope that the Great War would be quickly over
but, as the Australians planned to invite M.C.C. in that summer, this was never
likely. In light of the events of 1912, it may seem surprising that
Warwick Armstrong was chosen as captain. "Armstrong’s outstanding form
on the 1913-14 tour of New Zealand and the fact that there were few likely
candidates for the Australian captaincy would have outweighed whatever prejudice
the national selectors had against him" (from “Australian All-rounders” by Marc Fiddian published by
Pakenham Gazette 1992.). | Other
Australian Tours Previous
tour England 1912 Next proposed
tour England 1916 Next
tour of South Africa 1921-22 | |
| Members
of the Test tour party (14) Opening batsmen: Warren Bardsley, Ernie Mayne. Middle-order batsmen Tommy Andrews, Charles Macartney, Fred Baring, Johnny
Moyes, Roy Park. Wicket-keepers Barlow Carkeek, Gordon Campbell. All-rounders Charles
Kelleway, Jack Ryder. Slow bowlers Warwick Armstrong Fast
bowlers Bill Whitty, Bert Folkard. | T J E Andrews | NSW | 24 | RHB (LB) | | | W W Armstrong | Vic | 35 | RHB LBG captain | | | W Bardsley | NSW | 31 | LHB opener vice-captain | | | E P Barbour w/d | NSW | 23 | RHB opener | | | F Baring | Vic | 28 | RHB | | | G C Campbell | SA | 31 | reserve WK | | | W Carkeek | Vic | 36 | WK | | | B J Folkard added | NSW | 35 | RM | | | G R Hazlitt w/d | NSW | 26 | OB | | | C Kelleway | NSW | 28 | RHB RFM | | | C G Macartney | NSW | 28 | RHB SLA | | | E R Mayne | SA | 32 | RHB opener | | | A G Moyes | SA | 21 | RHB | | | R L Park added | Vic | 22 | RHB | | | J Ryder | Vic | 25 | RHB RFM | | | W J Whitty | SA | 28 | LFM | | | | | |
| State
representation Sheffield Shield teams NSW New
South Wales (5) Qld Queensland (0) SA South
Australia (4) Tas Tasmania
(0) Vic Victoria (5) WA Western
Australia (0) Average age of team at time of first Test match (16 December 1914) : 29 yrs 4 months. | |
| Test
Appearances made before the tour | Armstrong 40, Macartney
21, Bardsley 20, Kelleway 15, Whitty 14,
Carkeek 6, Mayne 2, Andrews
0, Baring 0, Campbell 0,
Folkard 0, Moyes 0, Park 0,
Ryder 0. | | |
| Tour
Officials | Gordon Campbell | Player- manager |
The
South Africans would provide a scorer and a baggageman. | | |
| Selectors | Clem Hill, Ernest Bean, Dr Les
Poidevin. The appointment of Bean, who was known to be antagonistic towards
many players, and of Poivedin, who was not a state selector and had been out
of the country, made it seem likely that the difficulties of 1912 would occur
over again, and a number of players would make themselves unavailable. | | |
| Selection | Unavailable: Clem Hill (citing his work as a racing
steward); R B Minnett (University examinations); ‘Ranji’ Hordern; Jack Massie;
Vernon Ransford; Victor Trumper (supposed
to be because of the low allowances being paid for the tour). Probably, most
of these were unavailable for business reasons. Tour Party Announced : Saturday 20 June 1914. In a new arrangement selection of tour parties would precede a full
meeting of the Australian Board, which would then consider the names
submitted for its approval. The selectors had invited thirteen cricketers, then Campbell was added as
player-manager. Not selected :
Legh Winser (wk), Jim Matthews (leg-spin), Donald Steele
(batsman). Withdrawal : Eric Barbour was unable to go because of his studies at Sydney University
and was replaced by Roy Park, also a medical student at Melbourne University;
Herbie Collins was in reserve. Gerry Hazlitt was replaced by Bert Folkard. Macartney was also a doubtful starter. | Time between selection and planned date of departure from Australia: 135 days (20 June - 2 November) | |
| Travel Sydney T Cape
Town ‘Themistocles’ | The tourists were to leave Sydney
on 2 November on the 'Thermistocles',
to play a match at Perth, and reach Cape Town on 28 November
1914. | Time planned in South
Africa 140 days (28 November - 17 April?) | |
| On-tour
selection | Warwick Armstrong (captain), Warren Bardsley (vice-captain), Gordon Campbell
(player-manager) | | |
| Planned
fixtures The tour arrangements announced at first were for it to take
place between 1 December 1914 and 17 April 1915, with travel arrangements as
above. However, this proposed programme of fixtures would require the
Australians to leave a month earlier. | | | Published dates for proposed programme | a | Durban | Natal | 7 - 10 November | b | Johannesburg | Transvaal | 14 - 17 November | c | Bloemfontein | African XI | 20 - 23 November | d | East London | Border | 17 - 30 November | e | ϯ Grahamstown | South African Colleges | 2 - 3 December | f | Port Elizabeth | Eastern Province | 4 - 7 December | g | Cape Town | Western Province | 11 - 14 December | h | CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA First Test | 16 - 19 December | i | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Second Test | 24 - 29 December | j | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Third Test | 1 - 5 January | k | ϯ to be decided | A Transvaal
XI | 8 - 9 January | l | Johannesburg | Transvaal | 12 - 13 January | m | Kimberley | Griqualand West | 15 - 18 January | n | Durban | Natal | 30 Jan - 2 February | o | DURBAN | SOUTH AFRICA Fourth Test | 6 - 10 February | p | Johannesburg | Transvaal | 13 - 16 February | q | JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Fifth Test | 19 - 23 February | r | Cape Town | Western Province | 27 Feb - 2 March | s | ϯ Cape Town | South African Colleges | 5 - 6 March | | | | |
| † not first-class Time
to be spent in South
Africa before First Test: 18 days (28 November - 16 December) | |
| Finances | The South Africans would cover all expenses and keep the gate
money. Each player would receive £200
for the tour, plus expenses. It was estimated the tour would cost £6000. The Transvaal Cricket
Union would guarantee half of those costs provided the South African Cricket
Association let it retain profits made on matches in Transvaal. | | |
| Postscript | Earlier, on 14 November 1913,
the Australian Cricket Board of Control had decided, in view of sending a
Test team to England in
1916, they could not accept an invitation to send a cricket team to the
Olympic Games in Germany.
Subsequently, the 1916
Australian tour of England,
as well as a proposed visit to Barbados on the way home, had to
be scrapped. | | |