There were no Test matches in England in 1922 and the selectors
based their choices upon Test trials and county championship performances,
which helped four Hampshire players to be included in the team, the greatest
representation in an English tour party for a county rarely favoured by
selectors.
Fatigued by the hot weather, an itinerary that seemed to maximise
the travelling distances, and injuries frequently obliging that the XI was
made up of the only fit men available, the side acquitted itself well on
unfamiliar matting pitches. Eight of the nine first-class matches were won as
well as the Test series.
Frank Mann was very popular with the South African public and a
great success as captain, but he was not available to appear in Test cricket
again afterwards.‘Jack’ Russell - inexplicably
not called upon again for Test cricket in the future - was the outstanding
batsman in the side. His centuries in each innings at Durban were made despite him feeling unwell,
and they helped win the final Test match and the series.
The wives of several English amateurs were accompanying the
1922-23 tour but skipper Mann was irritated to find that the women complained
much more about selectorial decisions than their husbands, while their
presence altered many of the traditional social aspects of touring.
M.C.C. abandoned a proposed tour of West
Indies on 9 November 1922.
Frank Mitchell, Pelham Warner,
Henry Leveson-Gower and Lionel Tennyson.
Selection
UnavailableH.L.Day (Army
duties),Johnny Douglas, Jack Hearne,
Jack Hobbs (sports business), Cecil Parkin (domestic reasons) and Herbert
Sutcliffe.
Tour Party Announced : 18 August 1922.
Macauley (subject to fitness) and Sandham accepted
their places on 26 August.
On the South Africans’ insistence there were six
amateurs in the party.
Time between selection and departure from England
63 days
(18 August - 20 October)
Travel
SouthamptonTCape
Town
‘Walmer
Castle’
There was the usual festival match at Scarborough, featuring the touring side against
C.I.Thornton’s XI.Departure was on 20
October 1922.The team, less the
Hampshire contingent, travelled by rail from Waterloo Station to Southampton. They left port on the ‘Walmer Castle’
By way of Madeira, they arrived at Cape Town on 9 November.Kennedy went ahead of the rest of the
side.The amateurs took their wives on
tour at their own expense.
Time spent in South Africa
118 days
(9
November -7 March)
On-tour
selection panel
Frank Mann (captain), Percy Fender (vice-captain),Frank
Woolley (senior professional).
Reinforcements
Street,
G B
Sx
31
WK
Walter Livsey broke a finger in the sixth
tour match so George Street
joined the team. Arthur Carr kept
wicket at Kimberley.
Greville Stevens did not play again after the Natal match but he remained with the tour
party.
•Alec Kennedy (5-7 and 6-8) and Vallance
Jupp (6-23 and 6-24) had startling bowling figures in the side matches, and
then with 4 wickets apiece dismissed the South Africans cheaply to start the
series at Johannesburg (first Test).
•George Macauley took 5-64 in the second
Test at Cape Town, and England achieved the narrowest
victory by 1 wicket
•Phil Mead scored 181 at Durban, the first Test century made at
Kingsmead.
•Frank Woolley’s century (115*) and Jack
Russell’s near miss (96) were highlights of England’s batting in the 4th Test
•Jack Russell struck a century in each
innings (140 and 111) of the final Test at Durban
•Alec Kennedy (31 wickets in the Test
series) was the most dangerous bowler but Fender took 58 wickets on the tour