An English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team, organised and led by

Lord Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke (16 August 1860 – 10 October 1938), generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer active from 1881 to 1911 who played for Yorkshire and England. He was born in Willingham by Stow, near ...

, toured

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

from December 1898 to April 1899. The team played two matches against the

South Africa national cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

which were retrospectively awarded

Test status Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

. There is uncertainty about the status of South African cricket as a whole in the late nineteenth century and so only two of Hawke's matches against provincial teams, those involving

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

and

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, are rated first-class. Hawke's XI is designated

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for the Test series which they won 2–0. The South African teams were captained by Murray Bisset. Hawke's team was generally average in quality and nothing like a full-strength England team, but it did include three of the best players of the time in

Schofield Haigh Schofield Haigh (19 March 1871 – 27 February 1921) was a Yorkshire and England cricketer. He played for nineteen seasons for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, sporadically for England cricket team, England from 1898–99 to 1912, and was a ''Wisd ...

Johnny Tyldesley John Thomas Tyldesley (22 November 1873 – 27 November 1930) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Lancashire and Test cricket for England. He was a specialist professional batsman, usually third in the batting order, wh ...

and

Albert Trott Albert Edwin Trott (6 February 1873 – 30 July 1914) was a Test cricketer for both Australia and England. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1899. He is believed to be the only batsman to have struck a ball over the t ...

, although Trott's previous Test cricket had been for Australia.

Test series

First Test

Second Test

References

External links

England in South Africa, 1898-99
at

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

Lord Hawke's XI in South Africa 1898/99
at CricketArchive

at Test Cricket Tours

by P. F. Warner at

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1898 in English cricket 1898 in South African cricket 1899 in English cricket 1899 in South African cricket 1888-89 International cricket competitions from 1888–89 to 1918 South African cricket seasons from 1888–89 to 1917–18 {{SouthAfrica-cricket-tour-stub