Test Cricket Tours - South Africa to England 1955

Tour of England 1955 Captain: Jack Cheetham

Eleventh official test tour

Eighth Test-playing tour of England by South Africa

(April - September 1955)

The first South African team to fly abroad made seven stops and took 26 hours to reach Heathrow.

The engrossing series of 1955 was the first occasion in England on which each Test of a five-match series produced a result. England claimed comfortable victories in the first two Test matches, only to falter in the next two. Cheetham broke a bone in his elbow at Lord’s and missed these two Test matches so vice-captain McGlew had to take over and won both times. A narrow victory was gained with only nine balls to spare in the third Test before giving England a thorough beating in the fourth. This brought the series to a climax at The Oval with the teams all-square but the visitors suffered a great disappointment by collapsing against Lock and Laker after twice dismissing England cheaply. They lost the match and thus the rubber.

However, only the South African side of 1935 had achieved better results in England before and it confirmed the progress made two years previously in Australia.

Other South African tours

Previous Tour

New Zealand 1952-53

Next tour

England 1960

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen: Jackie McGlew, Trevor Goddard

Middle-order batsmen Jack Cheetham, Roy McLean, Russell Endean, Headley Keith, Paul Winslow.

Wicket-keepers Chris Duckworth, John Waite

Spin bowlers Hugh Tayfield, Ian Smith

Fast bowlers Neil Adcock, Peter Heine, Eddie Fuller, Anton Murray, Percy Mansell

N A T Adcock	T	24	RF
J E Cheetham	WP	35	RHB captain
C A R Duckworth	R	22	RHB second WK
W R Endean	T	31	RHB
E R H Fuller	WP	23	RFM
T L Goddard	Nx	23	LHB LM
P S Heine	OFS	26	RF
H J Keith	N	27	LHB (SLA)
D J McGlew	N	26	RHB
R A McLean	N	24	RHB
P N F Mansell	R	35	RHB RM
A R A Murray	EP	33	RM
V I Smith	Nx	30	LB
H J Tayfield	Nx	26	OB
J H B Waite	T	25	RHB WK
P L Winslow	T	26	RHB

Representation of teams:

EP Eastern Province (1)

N - Natal (6)

OFS - Orange Free State (1)

R - Rhodesia (2)

T - Transvaal (4)

WP - Western Province (2)

Average age of team at time of first Test match (9 June 1955) :

27 yrs 7 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Cheetham 21, Tayfield 17, Waite 16, McLean 14, Endean 13, McGlew 13, Murray 10, Mansell 9, Smith 7, Adcock 5, Fuller 4, Winslow 2, Keith 1, Duckworth 0, Goddard 0, Heine 0.

Team Officials

K G Viljoen	Manager
M MacLennan	Baggage-scorer

Selectors

A R Ralph (convenor), G W A Chubb, A D Nourse, A Melville.

Selection

Unavailable: C B van Ryneveld (for business reasons - a lawyer)

Tour Party Announced: 29 January 1955.

Not selected:

Time between selection and departure from South Africa

84 days

(29 January to 23 April)

Travel

Departure was on 23 April. The team flew from Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, via Lusaka, Cairo and Rome, arriving at London Airport on 24 April.

Time spent on tour in England 149 days

(24 April - 20 September)

On-tour selection panel

Jack Cheetham (captain), Jackie McGlew (vice-captain), Russell Endean, Ken Viljoen (manager).

Reinforcements

None. Cheetham broke a bone in his elbow at Lord’s and missed these two Test matches in which McGlew deputised and won both matches. Adcock broke a bone in his foot and missed the Test match at Headingley.

Fixtures/Results

ϯ Blackheath	Union Castle
Worcester	Worcestershire	Lost 117 r
Derby	Derbyshire	Drawn
Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Drawn
Cambridge	Cambridge University	Drawn
Lord’s	M C C	Won 93 r
Oxford	Oxford University	Won inns 137 r
Cardiff	Glamorgan	Drawn
Colchester	Essex	Drawn
Old Trafford	Lancashire	Drawn
TRENT BRIDGE	ENGLAND First Test	LOST inns 5 r
Taunton	Somerset	Won inns 32 r
Hove	Sussex	Won 9 w
LORD’S	ENGLAND Second Test	LOST 71 r
Northampton	Northamptonshire	Drawn
Sheffield	Yorkshire	Won 193 r
OLD TRAFFORD	ENGLAND Third Test	WON 3 w
Kennington Oval	Surrey	Won 82 r
HEADINGLEY	ENGLAND Fourth Test	WON 224 r
ϯ Stoke-on-Trent	Minor Counties	Drawn
Swansea	Glamorgan	Won 226 r
Edgbaston	Warwickshire	Won 10 w
Cheltenham	Gloucestershire	Drawn
Leicester	Leicestershire	Won inns 117 r
KENNINGTON OVAL	ENGLAND Fifth Test	LOST 92 r
Southampton	Hampshire	Won 275 r
Canterbury	Kent	Won 8 w
Lord’s	Middlesex	Won 235 r
Hastings	England XI	Drawn
ϯ Sunderland	Durham	Won inns 324 r
Scarborough	T N Pearce’s XI	Won 4 w
ϯ Carlisle	Cumberland & Westmoreland	Drawn

“ not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test: 46 days

(24 April - 9 June)

Test appearances on tour

5 - Endean, Goddard, McGlew, McLean, Tayfield, Waite.

4 - Adcock, Heine, Keith, Mansell

3 - Cheetham, Winslow

2 - Fuller

1 - Smith

0 - Duckworth, Murray.

Highlights

- Heine had bowling figures of 5-60 at Lord’s and 5-68 at Old Trafford

- Three South Africans scored centuries in the innings at Old Trafford: McGlew 104*, Waite 113 and Winslow 108 as South Africa accumulated 521 runs

- McGlew (133) and Endean (116*) also scored Test centuries at Headingley where South Africa again totalled 500 for the innings.

- McGlew scored 476 runs in the series despite bagging a pair at Lord’s.

- Against Lancashire Winslow hit spinner Jack Ikin for 30 runs (4,4,6,6,4,6) off one over

- Tayfield took 26 wickets in the Test series and 143 on the whole tour

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	5	2	3	0	-
Other first-class matches	23	13	1	9	-
“Minor matches	3	1	0	2	-
All Matches	31	16	4	11	-

Return to South Africa

The flight home was postponed by a day, delayed by an electrical fault in the South African Airways Constellation so members of the team spent the day sightseeing. They were able to leave at 9:30 am the following day, 20 September, on the same plane.

Arrangement to convey players on to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Rhodesia on arrival at Johannesburg all needed to be re-made.

Paul Winslow remained in England to marry the actress Moira Gray at Purley in October.

Time away from South Africa 150 days

(23 April to 20 September)

Finances

Profit £ 36 000

Published accounts of the tour

‘I Declare’� by Jack Cheetham

‘Behind the South African Tests’� by Norman Cutler

‘Springbok Glory’� by Louis Duffus

‘England vs South Africa’� by Bruce Harris

‘Almost Champions’� by Werner Bernhard (the first book on a South African tour in Afrikaans).