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.
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
SouthamptonTCape
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.
•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 TownTSouthampton
‘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.