English cricket team in South Africa in 1891–92


An English cricket team, organised and led by the Surrey amateur Walter Read, toured South Africa from December 1891 to March 1892. There is uncertainty about the status of South African cricket as a whole in the late nineteenth century and so Read's matches against the main provincial teams, such as Transvaal and Western Province, are not rated first-class. The only first-class match on the tour is one in March against a South African national team which was retrospectively awarded Test status. Read's XI is therefore designated England for this match and they won the Test by an innings and 189 runs. The South African Test team was captained by William Henry Milton.

Test series summary

The match was retrospectively granted Test status. At the time it was known as a South African XI versus W. W. Read's XI. South Africa won the toss and batted first. They were soon all out for 97, with John Ferris taking 6 for 54. In reply, an innings of 134 from Henry Wood saw Read's side total 369, a lead of 272 that South Africa were never likely to catch. Ferris's 7 for 37 helped dismiss the South Africans for 83 in their second innings. This Test match still holds the record for the highest aggregate of runs without a leg bye being scored.
The game is more interesting for some historical oddities:
There were 20 matches on the tour. Apart from the Test match, all of them were against teams of 15, 18 or 22 players. The English team won 13 matches and drew seven. The leading player was Ferris, who took 235 wickets at an average of 5.46. J. T. Hearne took 163 wickets at 6.84, and Martin took 109 at 8.43. The outstanding batsman was Chatterton, who made 955 runs at an average of 41.52. The next best was Murdoch, with 633 runs at 27.52.