Tour of Australia & New Zealand 1952-53          Captain: Jack Cheetham
	Tenth official test tour   Second Test-playing tour of Australia by South Africa     (October 1952 - April 1953)	Jack Cheetham almost withdrew from the captaincy when his wife Norma was ill but he was persuaded by her doctors to make the tour and his wife recovered. Cheetham and manager Ken Viljoen encouraged a determined team spirit and, although they admitted the team lacked stars and had shortcomings in batting and bowling, they made it into one of the finest fielding sides then seen in Australia.  An outstanding player emerged in Hugh Tayfield who took enough wickets to surpass even Sydney Barnes’s aggregate. Yet before the tour, the Australian Board of Control had considered asking the South Africans to postpone their visit when it looked like being a financial disaster.  The South African Board then offered to underwrite £10 000 of any loss – but eventually the tour made as much as £4 000 profit.	Other South African tours   Previous Tour England 1951   Next tour England 1955   Next tours of Australia & New Zealand 1963-64
	Members of the Test tour party (15)   Opening batsmen  Jackie McGlew, John Waite, Russell Endean. Middle-order batsmen  Jack Cheetham, Roy McLean, Gerald Innes, Headley Keith, Eric Norton, Ken Funston Wicket-keepers  (John Waite), (Russell Endean). Spin bowlers  Hugh Tayfield Medium-paced bowlers: Percy Mansell, Anton Murray Fast bowlers  Eddie Fuller, Michael Melle, John Watkins,	J E Cheetham WP 32 RHB   captain     W R Endean T 28 RHB opener     E R H Fuller WP 21 RFM     K J Funston OFS 27 RHB     G A S Innes WP 21 RHB   opener in NZ     H J Keith N 25 LHB     SLA     R A McLean N 22 RHB     D J McGlew N 23 RHB  opener   vice-captain     P N F Mansell R 32 RM     M G Melle T 22 RF     A R A Murray EP 30 RM     E B Norton EP 32 RHB     H J Tayfield T 24 OB     J H B Waite EP 22 RHB  opener  WK     J C Watkins N 29 RHB   RM	Representation of teams:       EP Eastern Province (3) GW - Griqualand West N – Natal (4) OFS - Orange Free State (1) R – Rhodesia (1) T – Transvaal (3) WP - Western Province (3)         Average age of  team at time of first Test match   (5 December 1952) :        26 yrs  6 months
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Cheetham 9,  Tayfield 5,  Waite 4,  McLean 3,  Melle 3,  Watkins 3,  McGlew 2,  Mansell 2,  Endean 1,  Fuller 0,  Funston 0,  Innes 0,  Keith 0,  Murray 0,  Norton 0.
	Team Officials	K G Viljoen Manager W Ferguson Scorer / baggage   Viljoen’s appointment as manager was announced on 24 March.
	Selectors	A H Coy (Convenor of selectors),  G W A Chubb,  F Lambert,  S J Pegler,  C T Schwabe.
	Selection	Unavailable:  J R Liddle (OFS),  C B van Ryneveld (WP),  E A B Rowan. Rowan was informed by letter in October 1951 that he would not be considered following incidents on the 1951 tour of England. Tour Party Announced:  25 March 1952. Not selected:  Cuan McCarthy, studying in England, was asked if he was available but was not selected.	Time between selection and departure from South Africa   191 days (25 March to 3 October)
	Travel	Before the tour Dr Danie Craven, the rugby coach, organised physical fitness training sessions On 3 October the team sailed from Cape Town to Australia on the ‘Dominion Monarch’ and arrived in Fremantle on the morning of 14 October 1952.   After their final match in Australia (21 Feb) the team flew from Adelaide to Canberra where they were guests of the Prime Minister. They departed at 5:20 for Sydney where they stayed for a few hours having dinner at the Wentworth Hotel  Taking off from Rose Bay at midnight, there was a 7½ hour flight to Mechanics Bay, Auckland.  After an hour’s rest, they took a further flight from Whenuapai on to Dunedin, arriving at 5:30 pm, almost exactly twenty four hours after leaving Canberra.	Time spent in Australia and New Zealand    165 days (14 October - 28 March)
	On-tour selection panel	Jack Cheetham (captain),  Jackie McGlew (vice-captain),  Russell Endean and Ken Viljoen (manager).   http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/3801917
	Reinforcements	None
	Fixtures/Results	ϯ Northam Northam Won 217 r Perth Western Australia Drawn Adelaide South Australia Drawn Melbourne Victoria Drawn Sydney New South Wales Lost 5 w ϯ Newcastle Northern New South Wales Won 7 w ϯ Bundaberg Queensland Country XI Drawn Brisbane Queensland Drawn BRISBANE AUSTRALIA  First Test LOST 96 r Sydney An Australian XI Drawn ϯ Ballarat Victoria Country XI Drawn MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA  Second Test WON 82 r Sydney New South Wales Drawn ϯ Orange New South Wales Country XI Drawn SYDNEY AUSTRALIA  Third Test LOST inns 38 r ϯ Hobart Tasmania Won inns 122 r Launceston Tasmania Won inns 98 r ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA  Fourth Test DRAWN Melbourne Victoria Drawn MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA  Fifth Test WON 6 w Adelaide South Australia Drawn ϯ Port Lincoln South Australia CountryXI Won inns 316 r Dunedin Otago Drawn Christchurch Canterbury Drawn WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND  First Test WON inns 180 r AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND  Second Test DRAWN ϯ New Plymouth Central Districts Drawn Perth Western Australia Won 175 r	† not first-class   Time spent in Australia before First Test:  52 days (14 October - 5 December)
	Test appearances on tour	7  -  Cheetham,  Endean,  Funston,  McLean,  Mansell,  Tayfield,  Waite,  Watkins. 6  -  McGlew,  Murray. 4  -  Fuller,  Melle. 1  -  Keith 0  -  Innes,  Norton.
	Highlights	•   •   •
	Tour Summary	P W L  D Aban Test Matches   7 3 2   2 - Other first-class matches 15 3 1 11 - Minor matches   6 3 0   3 - All Matches 28 9 3 16 -
	Return to South Africa	Ferguson left the tour on 17 March when he flew from Auckland to Sydney. The team went from Wellington to Sydney on 23 March and, after two days’ rest, flew to Perth. There they won a match against Western Australia, who the previous week had played against the Australian team bound for England for their 1953 tour. The South African sailed from Fremantle aboard the ‘Dominion Monarch’  on Saturday night 28 March 1953. They landed at Cape Town on 8 April.	Time away from South Africa    187 days   (3 October to 8 April)
	Finances	The profit was Rs 1692.
	Published accounts of the tour	“Caught by the Springboks”   by Jack Cheetham “The South Africans in Australia 1952-53”   by A G ‘Johnny’ Moyes “Bumper”   by K R Miller &  R S Whitington.

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