Tour of South Africa 1938-39             Captain :  Wally Hammond            

35th England Test tour.

(October 1938 - March 1939)

Eleventh Test playing tour of South Africa by an English side

    (previous tour 1930-31)

Walter Hammond won the captaincy after changing his status to amateur. For the first time since his debut tour, Hammond did not top the tour averages, but was fourth. Nevertheless he scored over 1000 runs again, and recorded three centuries in the Test series.

Bill Edrich took the place of Joe Hardstaff who was mistakenly omitted despite two chances to add him to the side when Compton and then Fagg withdrew. Edrich kept his place in the Test team despite scoring only 21 runs in the series until, on his last opportunity in the "Timeless Test", he hit a double century .

England went one-up in the series after making South Africa follow on at Durban. The final Test on the same ground would be timeless and a record aggregate of runs was scored on a lifeless pitch. England were set 696 runs to win and England came within 42 runs of their target. Only rain during the tea interval on the final day forced M.C.C. to abandon the match and hurry for their train to Cape Town and the ship home.

In future there would be no more timeless Tests. The 1938 Test match at The Oval had been another powerful influence in bringing them to an end.

This was the last England Test tour to take place for seven years.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1936-37

Next Test tour

India 1939-40  cancelled

Australia 1946-47

Next tour of South Africa

1948-49

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen:  Bill Edrich, Len Hutton

Middle-order batsmen Wally Hammond, Eddie Paynter, Norman Yardley, Hugh Bartlett, Brian Valentine

Wicket-keeper/batsmen: Paul Gibb, Les Ames.

All-rounder: 

Slow bowlers: Doug Wright, Tom Goddard, Len Wilkinson, Hedley Verity

Fast bowlers: Ken Farnes, Reg Perks

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (2)

Kt -  Kent (3)

La - Lancashire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wo - Worcestershire (1)

Y - Yorkshire (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(24 December 1938) :

  28 yrs  6 months.

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

LBG  Leg-break and googly

OB   Off-break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Hammond 69,  Ames 42,  Verity 34,  Paynter 13,  Farnes 10,  Hutton 6,  Edrich 4,  Goddard 3,  Wright 3,  Valentine 2,  Bartlett 0,  Gibb 0,  Perks 0,  Wilkinson 0, Yardley 0.

Tour Officials

Russell Ridgway was the South African liaison officer. Aged 48, he had played for Staffordshire in 1913 and for a few years after the First World War.

Selectors

Pelham Warner (chairman),  Peter Perrin,  Brian Sellers.

Selection

On 6 August for the first time M.C.C. appointed its own manager (Jack Holmes) for a South African tour.

M.C.C. appointed Wally Hammond as captain on 27 July; he had become an amateur in the winter of 1937-38 in order to captain England.

Next day the first eight players received their invitations. They were Ames, Compton, Edrich, Farnes, Gibb, Hutton, Paynter and Yardley.

Compton had a contract to play football for Arsenal so he withdrew on 11 August.

On 16 August seven more were invited to join the team : Fagg, Goddard, Perks, Valentine, Verity, Wilkinson, Wright.

Unavailable:  Gubby Allen, Charles Barnett,

Tour Party Announced : 28 July and 16 August 1938.

On 1 September Arthur Fagg (ill health) withdrew,  and Hugh Bartlett was invited in place of him.

Not selected :  Stan Nichols, Joe Hardstaff.

Time between selection and departure from England

   66 days

 (16 August  - 21 October)

Travel

Southampton    T    Cape Town

               ‘Athlone Castle’

Departure : 21 October 1938

The team travelled by rail from Waterloo Station, London, to Southampton and sailed on the Athlone Castle, via Madeira.  They berthed in Cape Town on 4 November.

Time spent in South Africa

    134 days

(4 November - 18 March)

On-tour selection panel

Walter Hammond (captain),  Jack Holmes (manager),  Les Ames (senior professional),  Norman Yardley,

There was no official vice-captain. Yardley would captain where need arose.

Reinforcements

None.  Manager A J Holmes played in one match.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:  

 28 days

(4 November - 24 December)

Test appearances on tour

(v South Africa 1938-39)

5 -   Ames, Edrich, K.Farnes, Gibb, W.R.Hammond, Paynter, B.H.Valentine, Verity.

4 -   Hutton.

3 -   Goddard, Wilkinson, Wright.

2 - 

1 -   Perks, N.W.D.Yardley.

0 -   H.T.Bartlett.

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

•  In the first Test at Johannesburg Eddie Paynter scored a century in each innings (117 and 100).

•  Paul Gibb and Paynter shared a 2nd wicket partnership of 184 in the first innings and 168 in the second.

•  Tom Goddard took a hat-trick

•  In the second Test at Cape Town Wally Hammond (181) and Les Ames (115) added 197 for the 4th wicket

•  Brian Valentine then scored 112 to take England to 559-9 declared, before Hedley Verity took 5 wickets for 70 runs

•  Eddie Paynter’s 243 at Durban was the highest score in this series, and he was in partnership of 242 with Hammond (120)

•  Ken Farnes took 4-29 dismissing South Africa for 103 and making them follow-on, leading to an innings’ defeat.

•  Reg Perks took 5 for 100 on his debut in the final Test at Durban

•  After a tour of failures Bill Edrich struck 219 as England chased 696 to win. Hammond and Gibb also scored hundreds

•  England 654-5 at Durban is the highest fourth innings in Tests and they were left only 42 runs short of victory.

•  Hammond, Paynter and Hutton all scored more than 1000 runs on the tour, and England scored 11 centuries in the Tests.

Tour Summary

Return to England

Cape Town  T   Southampton

               ‘Athlone Castle’

Hugh Bartlett, Tom Goddard and Len Wilkinson, not involved in the 'Timeless Test', began the journey home on the Athlone Castle in advance of the rest of the team, sailing from Durban on 9 March.

They were not joined by the rest of the team until the last moment when the Durban Test was abandoned. The Test XI caught a train on the evening of Tuesday 14 March, pulling into Cape Town railway station on 17 March.   Walter Hammond flew from Durban to Cape Town.

The next day the tour party sailed from Cape Town, via Madeira (27 March), arriving at Southampton Docks at 6 am on 31 March 1939.

Time away from England

  161 days  

(21 October -31 March )

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"This is South Africa"   by William Pollock.

“M C C in South Africa”  by Brian Bassano  (published by J W McKenzie, 1997)

Postscript