On 12-13 March 1889, at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa became the third Test-playing nation. England, captained by C Aubrey Smith — later a Hollywood actor — won by 8 wickets inside two days. Smith took 5 for 19 in the first innings, his only Test wickets; Owen Dunell, the South African captain, became the first man to lose a Test toss for South Africa.
Cricket had been played in southern Africa since the 1820s. Donald Currie, the shipping magnate, had funded the trophy that bears his name (the Currie Cup) for inter-colonial cricket from 1889. Major Warton's tour was the first organised effort to test South African cricket against an English XI, and the matches were upgraded to Tests by later generations of historians.
The English party had been touring since December, playing matches in the Cape colony, Natal and the Transvaal. By March they had moved to Port Elizabeth for what would become the first Test.
The 1888-89 English tour of South Africa had been organised privately by Major R Gardner Warton, with Donald Currie as patron. The team — captained by C Aubrey Smith of Sussex and including Johnny Briggs of Lancashire — toured from December 1888 to March 1889. Two of the matches, at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, were retrospectively granted Test status.
The Port Elizabeth match was played on a green matting wicket — the standard South African surface of the era. South African captain Owen Dunell, an Eton-and-Oxford educated landowner, won the toss and chose to bat. South Africa were dismissed for 84 (Smith 5/19, Briggs 4/39). England replied with 148. South Africa managed only 129 in their second innings. England chased down 67 for 2 and won by 8 wickets, the match completed by 3:30 on the second day.
Aubrey Smith, then 25, never played another Test. His five wickets at Port Elizabeth made him one of the only men in cricket history to captain his country in his only Test, take a five-fer in his only Test, and never appear again. He became a London stage actor in the 1890s, then a Hollywood character actor in the 1930s, and founded the Hollywood Cricket Club in 1932.
Dunell scored 26* in the second innings, batting through the innings (carrying his bat) — a quirky South African first. He played one more Test before his career ended. The match was the start of South African Test cricket; the next Test would not come until 1891.
Owen Dunell wins the first Test toss for South Africa, chooses to bat.
South Africa 84; Aubrey Smith 5/19, Briggs 4/39.
England 148 in reply.
South Africa 129 second innings.
England knock off 67 for 2 wickets.
Match over by 3:30 pm on day two.
Smith never plays another Test; later founds Hollywood Cricket Club.
12 Mar 1889
Test begins at St George's Park; SA 84, Smith 5/19.
12 Mar afternoon
England 148.
13 Mar morning
SA 129 second innings.
13 Mar 3:30 pm
England 67/2; win by 8 wickets.
1932
Aubrey Smith founds Hollywood Cricket Club.
1944
Smith knighted by King George VI.
“An English XI under Mr Aubrey Smith yesterday vanquished South Africa.”
South Africa won their first Test against England eighteen years later, in 1906 at the Old Wanderers in Johannesburg. They became permanent members of the international cricket calendar. Aubrey Smith stayed on in South Africa briefly after the tour, then returned to England, took up acting, and went on to a Hollywood career that included roles in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), The Four Feathers (1939) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He was knighted in 1944.
Dunell returned to his estate near Port Elizabeth and his administrative work for South African cricket. He died in 1929.
The day South Africa joined the Test club — and the day a future Hollywood actor took 5 for 19 in his only Test as England's captain.
South Africa became the third Test-playing nation through this match, joining England (1877) and Australia (1877). The combination of historical first plus Aubrey Smith's later Hollywood fame makes it one of the most often-retold first Tests in cricket history. Smith's grave in Beverly Hills is sometimes visited by cricket historians.
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.