England in South Africa, 1895-96

During the winter of 1895-96 a band of English cricketers under the captaincy of Lord Hawke visited South Africa, this being the third trip of the kind. If not repeating the achievements of their predecessors of 1888-89, they had a successful tour, winning and drawing seven games and only twice sustaining defeat. The two sides that had the distinction of lowering the colours of the Englishmen were fifteens of Western Province and Natal, both reverses occurring in the early part of the tour. Three games were played with the combined strength of South Africa, and in these encounters the English cricketers showed a marked superiority, winning the first by 228 runs, and the others each in a single innings. The batting honours of the tour were won by Mr. C. B. Fry, Mr. A. J. L. Hill, and Hayward, all of whom averaged over thirty. Hayward, who like Mr. S.M.J. Woods, took part in every match, had the highest aggregate - 822 - but Mr. Fry had the distinction of heading the list of with an aggregate of 750 and an average of 34. Mr. Fry and Mr. Hill each twice exceeded the hundred, while Hayward and Sir T.C. O'Brien both played one innings of three figures. The last named did himself fair justice, scoring 586 runs with an average of 25, and Mr. Woods, Mr. Bromley-Davenport, and Mr. C.W. Wright had good records. Mr. H.T. Hewett formed one of the team, but after taking part in three games was compelled to return to England, the batting strength of the side suffering in consequence. Excellent as was the batting, the success of the eleven was mainly was mainly brought about by the effective bowling of George Lohmann, who had the splendid record of 157 wickets for less than seven runs each. The Surrey professional accomplished his best work in the eleven-a-side games with South Africa, taking in the three matches no fewer than 35 wickets. In this department of the same Lohmann received admirable support from Mr. Hill and Mr. Bromley-Davenport, while Hayward and Mr. Woods also bowled with good averages. Tyler was a failure, but he was not suited to the wickets and was moreover handicapped by indifferent health. The highest score made against the English team was 310 by fifteen of Pietermaritzburg, while fifteen of Natal accomplished the fine performance of scoring, for the loss of nine wickets, the 228 set them to win. In both these achievements Lieut. R. M. Poore had a large share, scoring 112 at Pietermaritzburg, and 107 not out in the second innings of the Natal team. At one time it was feared that the disturbances in the Transvaal would seriously affect the tour, but such happily was not the case. The finances no doubt suffered in consequence, but we understand there was no loss. As was the case with the previous teams, the Englishmen were received with great cordiality and had a thoroughly enjoyable trip. Mr. J.D. Logan, of Matjesfontein, worked untiringly in making the visit of the cricketers a pleasant one. George Lohmann undertook the business management of the tour.

Match reports for

1st Test: South Africa v England at Gqeberha, Feb 13-14, 1896
Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: South Africa v England at Johannesburg, Mar 2-4, 1896
Report | Scorecard

3rd Test: South Africa v England at Cape Town, Mar 21-23, 1896
Report | Scorecard