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Test Cricket Tours - England to South Africa 1927-28

 

Tour of South Africa 1927-28                 Captain :  Rony Stanyforth            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26th England Test tour.

(October 1927 -  March 1928)

 

 

Ninth Test playing tour of South Africa by an English side

  (previous tour 1922-23)

       

 

 

 

 

It was revealed on 10 October that Guy Jackson, Derbyshire's captain, had entered a nursing home with ill-health and would not tour. Percy Holmes took his place in the side. The replacement captain, 'Rony' Stanyforth, had played for neither England nor his county, Yorkshire, before the tour. He did not appear for Yorkshire until 1928 and then played in only three games as wicket-keeper. Spin bowlers Peebles and Staples were not among the original selection.

Though M.C.C's team was somewhat elderly, it was as inexperienced as that sent under Chapman four years later was experienced. Then only two of the tour party were new to Test cricket but in 1927-28 nine had yet to make their Test debut and twelve had not previously been on a Test tour.

England won the first two Test matches, and looked to be ....  but then South Africa's batting, fortified by Taylor's and Catterall's centuries, and Bissett's pace bowling helped the home country to square the series by winning the last two Tests.

 

 

All England tours

 

 

Previous Test tour

Australia 1924-25

 

 

Next Test tour

Australia 1928-29

 

 

Next tour of South Africa

1930-31

 

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour party (15)

 

 

Opening batsmen:  Herbert Sutcliffe, Eddie Dawson, Percy Holmes.

Middle-order batsmen Wally Hammond, Geoffrey Legge, Ernest Tyldesley, Bob Wyatt.

Wicket-keepers: Harry Elliott, Rony Stanforth.

All-rounders:Greville Stevens, Ewart Astill

Slow bowlers: Tich Freeman, Ian Peebles, Sam Staples,

Fast bowlers: George Geary

 

 

 

 

 

Astill,  W E

Le

39

RHB         RM

 

E W  Dawson

Le

23

RHB opener

 

Elliott,  H

Dy

36

WK

 

Freeman,  A P

Kt

39

LBG

 

Geary,  G

Le

34

RFM

 

Hammond,  W R

Gs

24

RHB         RM

 

Holmes,  P    added

Yo

41

RHB opener

 

G R Jackson   w/d

Dt

 

captain

 

G B  Legge

Kt

24

RHB       vice-captain

 

I A R  Peebles

Mx

19

LB

 

R T  Stanyforth

Army

35

WK             captain

 

Staples,  S J

Nt

35

OB

 

G T S  Stevens

Mx

26

RHB        LB          deputy captain

 

Sutcliffe,  H

Yo

33

RHB  opener

 

Tyldesley,  G E

La

38

RHB

 

R E S  Wyatt

Wk

26

RHB         RFM

 

 

 

 

 

  

County representation:

 

Dy  - Derbyshire (1)

Gs  - Gloucestershire (1)

Kt - Kent (2)

La - Lancashire (1)

Le  -  Leicestershire (3)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Y - Yorkshire (2)

 

Army (1)

  

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(24 December 1927):

  32 yrs  0 months.

 

 

 

 

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off-break

WK  Wicket-keeper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Appearances made before the tour

 

Sutcliffe 15,  Tyldesley 5,  Geary 3,  Stevens 3,  Freeman 2,  Holmes 1,  Astill 0,  Dawson 0,  Elliott 0,  Hammond 0,  Legge 0,  Peebles 0,  Staples 0,  Stanyforth 0,  Wyatt 0.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Officials

 

     ?

Team Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

Lord Harris (chairman) headed the M.C.C. selection committee.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

Unavailable: Percy Chapman, Enthoven, Patsy Hendren, Jack Hobbs, Douglas Jardine, Vallance Jupp, Harold Larwood, Maurice Tate, Frank Woolley.

In early July Guy Jackson accepted the invitation to captain the side.

The names of the first eight to accept places was made on 25 July:  Jackson, Dawson, Stevens, Wyatt, Legge, Hammond, Astill and Sutcliffe.

By the time of the third trial match in mid-August the selection committee had finalised only three more of the team: Elliot, Tyldesley and Geary. Freeman and Stanyforth were then added

Ian Peebles, making up the numbers in an end-of-season fixture between M.C.C's South African XI versus C.I.Thornton's XI at Scarborough, was added to the tour party on 8 September as Jackson's secretary.  Sam Staples, who would be going to South Africa in any event to fulfil a coaching engagement in Cape Town, was asked to stand by and was eventually added to the team, too.

Withdrawal:  G.R. Jackson stood down from the captaincy owing to illness on 10 October. Holmes took his place.

 

 

Time between selection and departure from England

   28 days

 (23 September - 21 October)

 

 

 

 

Travel

Southampton   T    Cape Town

             ‘Kenilworth Castle’’

 

 

In the pre-tour match G.R.Jackson skippered the M.C.C touring side and Percy Holmes played for Thornton's XI.

 

At Scarborough

v C.I.Thornton's XI

 

 

The team travelled down by rail from London’s Waterloo Station to Southampton, from where they embarked on 21 October 1927. They sailed on the 'Kenilworth Castle', via Madeira, to Cape Town.

The ship docked on 7 November and the team attended a civic reception, before going on to their first practice.

 

 

Time spent in South Africa

    109 days

(7 November -  24 February)

 

 

 

On-tour selection panel

 

Rony Stanyforth (captain), Herbert Sutcliffe (senior professional), with Frederick Toone (Manager) present???

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements

 

S K Coen

OFS

25

RHB

 

J C Hubble

Kt

46

WK

 

Stanley ‘Shunter’ Coen of Orange Free State and Jack Hubble played for M.C.C. against the Invitation XI at Benoni. Hubble was coaching at Dale and Queen's College.

George Geary injured an elbow in the second Test match and did not play again until the last match of the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

a

Cape Town

Western Province

Drawn

b

Kimberley

Griqualand West

Won inns 75

c

Bloemfontein

Orange Free State

Won inns 164

d

Pietermaritzburg

Natal

Drawn

e

Durban

Natal

Drawn

f

Pretoria

Transvaal

Drawn

g

ϯ Witwatersrand

Transvaal & Natal Schools

Drawn

h

Johannesburg

Transvaal

Drawn

i

Benoni

A South African XI

Drawn

j

JOHANNESBURG

SOUTH AFRICA  First Test

WON 10 w

k

CAPE TOWN

SOUTH AFRICA  Second Test

WON 87 r

l

Port Elizabeth

Eastern Province

Won 10 w

m

East London

Border

Won inns 109

n

DURBAN

SOUTH AFRICA  Third Test

DRAWN

o

JOHANNESBURG

SOUTH AFRICA  Fourth Test

LOST 4 w

p

DURBAN

SOUTH AFRICA   Fifth Test

LOST 8 w

q

ϯ  Grahamstown

South African Schools

Drawn

r

Cape Town

Western Province

Won 8 w

 

 

 

 

 

† not first-class

 

 

 

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:  

 47 days

(7 November - 24 December)

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

 (v South Africa 1927-28).

 

 

5 -   Astill,  Hammond,  Holmes,  Stevens,  Sutcliffe, Tyldesley,  Wyatt.

4 -   Freeman,  Peebles,  Stanyforth.

3 -   Staples

2 -   Geary

1 -   Dawson, Elliott,  Legge.

0 - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

Astill

 

 

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

T

T

 

x

T

T

T

x

x

Dawson

x

x

 

x

x

 

x

 

x

 

 

x

x

 

 

T

x

 

Elliott

 

 

x

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

T

x

 

Freeman

x

x

 

 

x

x

 

 

x

 

T

x

x

T

T

T

x

x

Geary

x

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

 

T

T

 

x

 

 

 

 

x

Hammond

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

T

T

 

x

T

T

T

 

x

Holmes

x

x

x

 

x

x

 

x

x

T

T

 

x

T

T

T

x

x

Legge

 

 

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

T

 

x

x

 

 

 

x

 

Peebles

x

 

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

T

T

x

 

T

T

 

x

 

Stanyforth

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

T

T

x

x

T

T

 

x

x

Staples

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

 

 

 

x

x

T

T

T

 

x

Stevens

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

 

x

T

T

x

 

T

T

T

x

x

Sutcliffe

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

T

T

x

 

T

T

T

x

x

Tyldesley

x

x

 

x

x

x

 

x

 

T

T

x

x

T

T

T

 

x

Wyatt

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

T

T

x

x

T

T

T

x

x

Coen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 R E S U L T S

D

W

W

D

D

D

D

D

D

W

W

W

W

D

L

L

D

W

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

  T

 

 

    Holmes, Sutcliffe and Tyldesley all topped 1000 first-class runs for the tour with averages above 50.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 P

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

  5

2

2

1

-

Other first-class matches

11

5

0

6

-

Minor matches

2

0

0

2

-

All Matches

18

7

2

9

-

 

 

 

 


Return to England

Cape Town    T    Southampton

                    ‘Saxon’

 

 


It was estimated that the team had travelled 6778 miles by rail before they embarked for home. On 24 February 1928 the team sailed from Cape Town on the 'Saxon'. 

Dawson remained in Durban for a further fortnight, staying with his new fiancee's relatives.

Tyldesley and Sutcliffe left the ship at Madeira on 8 March to take a holiday, returning home one week late on the 'Arundel Castle'. 

The 'Saxon' reached Southampton on the morning of Monday 12 March.

 

 


Time away from England

  141 days  

(23 October -12 March )

 

 

 

 

Finances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts of the tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postscript

 

 

 

 

 




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