The tour by the English cricket team in South Africa in 1909–10 was organised by

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC). The team played as MCC in the non-Test fixtures and as England in the five Test matches. They played 14

first-class matches First class (or 1st class, Firstclass) generally implies a high level of service, importance or quality. Specific uses of the term include: Books and comics * ''First Class'', a comic strip in ''The Dandy'' (1983-1998) * ''X-Men: First Class' ...

including the Tests, winning 7 times with 3 draws and 4 defeats. Roy Webber, ''The Playfair Book of Cricket Records'', Playfair Books, 1951 England was captained by H. D. G. Leveson Gower. South Africa's captain in the Test series was

Tip Snooke Sibley John "Tip" Snooke (1 February 1881 – 14 August 1966) played Test cricket for South Africa cricket team, South Africa as an all-rounder, South African national cricket captains, captaining the side to victory 3–2 against English cricket ...

Test series summary

South Africa won the Test series 3–2. Match length: 5 days (excluding Sundays). Balls per over: 6.

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test

Fifth Test

The Reef v MCC

The tour include
The Reef v MCC
at

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, Willem Eduard Bok, W. Eduard Bok. The R29 (South A ...

. It was scheduled as a four-day match but play only took place on two because of bad weather. Although the two teams consisted of recognised players, the South African Board of Control decided as late as 1930 that it had not been a first-class match. Wisden 1931 reproduced a letter from the SABC which outlined its case. Wisden has ignored the ruling and includes the match in the career figures of all the players who took part, including record-breaking players such as

Wilfred Rhodes Wilfred Rhodes (29 October 1877 – 8 July 1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman ...

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882 – 21 December 1963) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is widely regarded ...

and

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsm ...

. It is possible that the SABC thought it was a 2-day match, but Wisden 1911 clearly states that "not a ball could be bowled on the first and fourth days" so it was actually planned as a 4-day match.Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1911 For more information about this curious affair, see:

Variations in First-Class Cricket Statistics Variations in published cricket statistics have come about because there is no official view of the status of cricket matches played in Great Britain prior to 1895 or in the rest of the world prior to 1947. As a result, historians and statistici ...

References

External links

Wisden Online 1911

Annual reviews

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

1911