Frank Mann's MCC tourists arrived in South Africa in late 1922 to face Herbie Taylor's improving home side on matting wickets. Across five Tests they ground out a 2-1 series win — the first English Test victory in South Africa since 1913-14 — and confirmed the post-war restoration of England as a Test power away from Australia.
South Africa, having played their first home Tests since the war in 1922-23 against Frank Mann's tourists, were still confined to matting-on-turf wickets. Their batsmen, especially Herbie Taylor, had spent a decade mastering the bounce. Their attack, however, was thin once Pegler tired.
MCC's selection of an attack-light, batting-heavy party was widely criticised before departure: with Hobbs unavailable and Sydney Barnes still refusing tours, the bowling rested on Alec Kennedy of Hampshire and the off-spin of George Macaulay. South Africa, captained by the silken-strokeplaying Herbie Taylor, played all five Tests on coconut-fibre matting laid over hard ground — surfaces that suited the home batsmen and the leg-spin of S.J. 'Sandy' Pegler.
The first Test at Johannesburg was won by South Africa by 168 runs, with Taylor making 176, the highest Test score by a South African to that point. England drew the second Test at Cape Town then took the third at Durban by an innings, Macaulay's 5 for 64 the decisive performance. The fourth Test at Johannesburg was drawn but England's experienced campaigner Phil Mead anchored the innings with 181. The fifth Test at Durban was won by England by 109 runs after a famous 95 by Mann himself, the only century of his short Test career falling just short.
Macaulay, a Yorkshire off-spinner of relentless accuracy, finished the series with 16 wickets at 19.0 and was the difference between the two attacks. South Africa's Pegler took 14 wickets but Taylor's brilliance with the bat — 582 runs at 64 — was alone among home performances. The 2-1 result came as a relief at Lord's, where the post-Armstrong nadir of English cricket had begun to look terminal.
First Test, Johannesburg: Taylor 176, South Africa win by 168
Second Test, Cape Town: drawn
Third Test, Durban: Macaulay 5/64, England win by an innings
Fourth Test, Johannesburg: drawn; Phil Mead 181
Fifth Test, Durban: Mann 95, England win by 109 runs
Dec 1922
First Test, Johannesburg — South Africa win
Jan 1923
Third Test, Durban — England win by an innings
Feb 1923
Fifth Test, Durban — England seal the series 2-1
“We came to find out whether South African cricket had grown up. We found that on its own ground it was very nearly our equal.”
Mann was retained as MCC's captain for the 1923 home season and South African tour the following English summer. Macaulay's reputation as a Test bowler was made; he would play in the home series of 1924. Taylor's 176 stood as a South African Test record until Dudley Nourse passed it after the Second World War.
England's 2-1 win in South Africa in 1922-23 was the first sign that the Ashes-era humiliation was a competitive trough rather than a generational decline, and that on matting wickets at least the English professional bowler still had answers.
The series established the matting-on-turf grounds of South Africa as a distinct cricketing environment that demanded a different bowling discipline; English captains and selectors continued to send specifically designed sides to South Africa for another half-century.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.