James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annaul 1897

T H E N G L I S HT E A MI N S O U T HA F R I C A . 2 1 9 C H A P T E R V . T H E N G L I S HT E A MIN S O U T H A F R I C A . THOUGHill -luck followed them, in a way, during a great part of the trip , still the tour of the team which left Englandin December, 1895, under the captaincy of Lord Hawke, proved to be a great success from every point of view. Troubles came, not as single spies , but in battalions . Inthe first place , accident to the steamer in which Lord Hawke, Sir T. C. O'Brien , and Mr. Hewett left England, delayed their arrival so much that the first match had to be played without them. Then at the conclusion of their two engagements in the WesternProvince camethe startling news of Jameson's raid. This caused the postponement of their third fixture , which was to have taken place at Johannesburg , and even when the match did come off the " gate " necessarily suffered tremendously . Again, just as the team were getting acclimatized , Mr. Hewett was forced to return with all speed to England, and one of the best batsmen was lost . Once more, whenthey were just about to visit Johannesburg , came the news of the fearful explosion in that city ; this necessitated a second postponement . After all , one of the two matches arranged that against an Eleven of Johannesburg -had to be abandoned, while the pecuniary result of the one that was played there was naturally much affected . The team itself , too , suffered in different ways. Mr. Woodscommencedthe tour with a strained shoulder , which rendered h i munable to send downa ball until half the matches had been played, and then, to makematters worse , he managed to strain his leg , thereby putting his bowling during the latter part equally out of the question . Just prior to the last test matchMr. Fry, whohadbatted consistently well, strained his ankle andwas unable to play in either this or the last matchagainst the Western Province. Tyler also was unable to assist the team for sometime owing to ill -health , but, in spite of all temptations to be discouraged , the team never lost heart, and in the end had their full reward in a successful record as well as an enjoyable tour . Exclusive of the scratch games against the Western Province and at Matjesfontein , as well as the first game at Kimberley , in which a few only oftheteamtook part , of sixteen matches played LordHawke'steamwonseven, drewseven, and lost two. Thewins include all three of the matches v. a combinedSouth African eleven , andas in the last of these SouthAfrica was fully represented their decisive defeat was significant .