James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual 1890

T H EE N G L I S HC R I C K E T E R SI N O U T HA F R I C A. 2 1 years that sport in South Africa has had an opportunity of developing to any great extent . The exodus of YoungEngland to the Cape and the outlying provinces during the last quarter of a century has generated a love of athletic sports , which is bringing South Africa more and more to the front . Only a few years ago and the possibility of such an ambitious tour as that undertaken by MajorWartonwould have been ridiculed as the creation of a heated brain . Theidea though, nonethe less , had found a place in the plans of some of the leaders of cricket in SouthAfrica somefewyears before. M o r ethanonce a desire had been expressed to invite a combination of English players , andnow and again there had been even suggestions of sending to Englanda teamrepre- sentative of South Africa . But for one fortunate circumstance though, the country , hitherto unknownto English cricketers , might still be unexplored . It wasthe opportune presence of Major Warton in the Cape Colony which, in fact , brought a scheme which had never got beyond the bounds of probability into the region of practical politics . During his service on the Staff in South Africa, the Major,whohadhimself done good service to the gamein a small way at home, had had plenty of opportunities of knowing the capacities of the cricketers out there , as well as of estimating the requirements for , and the probable chances of, such a tour . Eminently fitted byhis personal knowledge of local cricketers and cricket grounds for the task of organizing a tour in South Africa , the whole credit , not only of the satisfactory conclusion of preliminary negotiations necessary to makethe trip a reality , but of the signal success which marked the tour from a social as well as a cricket standpoint , was due to the energy and tact of Major Warton. H ewas lucky in securing the co-operation of two enthusiasts in different ways. The first was Mr. C. A. Smith, the captain of the Sussex eleven , who rendered assistance of incalculable value in the collection of the team; the second , Sir DonaldCurrie , the founder of the Castle Line of steamers , the value of whose political as well as commercial influence to a party on such an errand cannot be overrated . With such a triumvirate of counsellers the success of the tour was, it is hardly necessary to say, assured , and the team left Londonunder the most enjoyable auspices to the farewell of a large numberof friends invited by Sir Donald Currie to share the hospitality of the officers of the " Garth Castle . " Leaving Londonon Wed- nesday, November21st , the team reached Lisbon on the following Monday, and wereduly landed , after another brief stoppage at Madeira , at Cape Townon December 14th . The party , under the personal conduct of Major Warton, consisted of the following :- Mr. C. A. Smith , Sussex (Captain ). M. P. Bowden (Surrey ). M r .E. M c M a s t e r . H o n. C. Coventry. J. H .Roberts. B .A . F. Grieve. A. C. Skinner. و د و د H. W o o d(Surrey). J. M. Read (Surrey ). R. Abel (Surrey). J. Briggs (Lancashire ). Fothergill (Somersetshire ). F. Hearne(Kent). MajorWarton, Hon. Sec. The fourteen though did not long remain united , as Mr. J. H. Roberts was summonedhomehastily by the death of his father , and as Ulyett hadto be sent out in his stead there wasa vacancy in the playing members while he was on thewayfrom England . The scores of the matches , which are given fully , and the averages which follow , will furnish a reliable and exhaustive epitome of the doings of the team, so that there is really no need of lengthy comment. Major Warton, it must be remembered, had no idea of collecting a combination thoroughly representative of English cricket . Such a policy would have injured rather than served the purpose with which the tour was organized , namely, an educational one, the development of the South African cricket . Theobject , of course , was to have a team of sufficient strength to test the capacity of the local players , and with a sufficiency of good material to teach them the science of the game. At the outset it seemed as if the quality of the opposition the English- menwould have to face had been much underrated . In the earlier matches ,