Tour of South Africa  1905-06                      Captain : Pelham Warner     

(M.C.C. tour)

England’s eighteenth Test tour.

(November 1905 - April 1906 )

Fifth Test-playing tour of South Africa by an English side

      (previous tour 1898-99) 

M.C.C., being entirely satisfied with P F Warner's leadership in Australia in 1903-04, appointed him to captain its first tour of South Africa. However, letters uncovered by Roger Mann show that the M.C.C. Committee had, firstly, invited J R Mason on 3 July to lead the side instead.

In 'Long Innings'  Warner wrote : "Our programme was a heavy one. Between December 2 and April 2 we played twenty-six matches, which meant sixty-six days' cricket and travelled 6348 miles by railway, in addition to a sea voyage between Durban and East London. No fewer than twenty-two nights were spent in the train."

For the first time in five visits South Africa bettered an English side in the Test matches, winning by the comfortable margin of 4-1, owing to the batsmen's inability to play the spinning ball on matting pitches. The side was not representative of the full strength of English cricket but such a margin pointed to the improvement in standards that had taken place in South Africa. Afterwards the 1907 tour of England by Sherwell's South Africans became deservedly a full Test tour.

For England the first match was a long battle to defend a target of 284 which South Africa reached with one wicket in hand, giving their batsmen confidence for the next two Test matches. At the same time a lack of form on the part of the touring batsmen gave a fillip to South African and a pause to English cricket . Only Blythe’s heroic bowling performance in Cape Town brought the compensation of one victory

All the fixtures were played on matting pitches and turf wickets did not become the norm in South Africa until 1926

England were, as was then customary, weakened by unavailability. Moreover the tour was beset by problems of illness: Board, Hayes and Wynyard all went down sick and Lees's cricket was affected by his illness from the previous autumn. 

 All England tours

 Previous Test tour

 Australia 1903-04(M.C.C.)

 Next Test tour

 Australia 1907-08

 Next tour of South Africa

 1909-10

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:  Pelham Warner, Teddy Wynyard

Middle-order batsmen David Denton, Francis Fane, Ted Hayes, Henry Leveson-Gower, Leonard Moon

Wicket-keeper: Jack Board

All-rounder:   Jack Crawford

Slow bowlers: Colin Blythe,  Jock Hartley, Albert Relf

Fast bowlers: Schofield Haigh, Walter Lees

 County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gs - Gloucestershire (1)

Ha - Hampshire (1)

Kt -  Kent (1)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Sy - Surrey (4)

Sx - Sussex (2)

Y - Yorkshire (2)

Hartley had not played for Sussex since 1898.

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(11 December 1905)

  31 years 6 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Warner 7,  Blythe 6,  Haigh 4,  Board 2,  Relf 2,  Denton 1,  Wynyard 1,  Crawford 0,  Fane 0,  Hartley 0,  Hayes 0,  Lees 0,  Leveson-Gower 0,  Moon 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Selection

By mid-September arrangements for the tour were still not made.

Unavailable :  Lord Hawke and Jack Mason both declined to captain the side.  Sydney Barnes (Staffs);  George Thompson (Northants);  Henry Martyn (Somerset WK)  were not available.  

Withdrawal:  George Dennett.  Gloucestershire withdrew Dennett from the team on 21 September as it was felt that the strain might impair his performances in 1906.  Colin Blythe was asked to take his place in the tour party. Dennett was the second highest wicket-taker in first-class cricket never to play in a Test match.

Tour party announced : on     1905.

Some dissatisfaction about the strength of the team was expressed on the part of the South African press. Bosanquet, Hayward and Quaife, for example, from the previous touring side to Australia would have been welcome

Time between selection and departure from England

   days

 (late-September - 11 November)

Travel

Southampton   T    Cape Town

              ‘Kinfauns Castle’

The team assembled at Waterloo Station on 11 November and caught the 11.30 train down to Southampton Docks, except EG Wynyard who had made his own way there earlier. They sailed that day from Southampton on the 'Kinfauns Castle'. 

After a rough passage the ship arrived at Cape Town on 28 November and were taken to the City Hall for a civic lunch

Time spent in South Africa

    127 days

(28 November - 4 April

Reinforcements

Sir Godfrey Lagden, the Commissioner for Native Affairs in South Africa, was invited to play against The Army in his only first-class appearance.

Manager Ivor Difford played in the minor match against South-west Districts just before the run of Test matches.

Fixtures/Results

Except in the five matches  indicated, MCC put out eleven players

† not first-class

Time spent in South Africa before First Test: 

   35  days

(28 November  - 2 January)

Test appearances on tour

(v South Africa 1905-06)

5 -   Blythe,  Crawford,  Denton,  Fane,  Haigh,  Lees,  Relf,  Warner.

4 -   Board,  Moon.

3 -   Hayes.

2 -   Hartley,  Wynyard.

0 -   Leveson-Gower.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

Highlights

•  Walter Lees took five cheap wickets dismissing South Africa for only 91 in the opening Test.

•  Lees again took 6-78 in the third Test played at Johannesburg.

•  Francis Fane scored England’s only Test century (143) in the third match.

•  Colin Blythe took 11 wickets for 118 runs in the fourth Test, the only Test match which England won.

•  Again Fane was the star batsman, his 65 not out guiding England to a 4 wicket victory in the Cape Town Test..

Tour Summary

* excludes the scrtach game at the start of the tour.

Return to England

Cape Town   T    Southampton

                  ‘Norman’

E.G.Wynyard, who was unwell, returned home early.

Leveson-Gower and Moon remained in South Africa at the end of the tour.

The team sailed from Table Bay, Cape Town, on the 'Norman' on 4 April, calling at Madeira on 17 April, and arriving at Southampton four days later.

Time away from England

  161 days  

(11 November -21 April)

Finances

After incurring a loss on their first tour in 1903-04, M.C.C. obtained a guarantee against loss from the South African Cricket Association

Accounts of the tour

The M.C.C. in South Africa"  by P.F.Warner.

Postscript

The