From December 1891 to March 1892 an English side organised and captained by Surrey's Walter Read toured South Africa. The single Test, played at Newlands from 19 to 22 March 1892, was won by England by an innings and 189 runs. JJ Ferris took 13 wickets in the match (6/54 and 7/37); Henry Wood made 134 — the first Test hundred by a wicketkeeper. The match was retrospectively classified as Test cricket and remains South Africa's second Test.
South Africa's first Test had been at Port Elizabeth in March 1889 — a tour led by Major Warton and captained by C. Aubrey Smith. The South African Cricket Association formed in 1890. Read's 1891-92 tour was the second visit by an English team and the first since the SACA's formation.
The English side under Read sailed from Southampton on 21 November 1891. South African cricket had developed in the intervening three years; the Cape's matting pitches and the new Currie Cup (founded 1889) had begun to standardise the standard.
Walter William Read of Surrey was 36 in 1891, an experienced amateur with a 1882 Oval reputation (his 117 in the famous 'Ashes-creating' Test). With no MCC tour scheduled, Read assembled a side of 13 players, mostly from English county sides, and arranged the South Africa visit privately. The team sailed in late November 1891 and played 20 first-class and minor matches across Cape Colony, Natal and the Transvaal between December and March, winning 13 and drawing 7.
The single Test was played at Newlands, Cape Town, from 19-22 March 1892, on a hard-baked matting pitch. South Africa, batting first, were dismissed for 97 — JJ Ferris (a former Australian Test bowler now playing for England under residential qualification) took 6 for 54. England replied with 369; Henry Wood, the Surrey wicketkeeper, made 134 not out at number eight, the first Test century ever scored by a wicketkeeper. South Africa, following on, were bowled out for 83 in their second innings — Ferris 7 for 37 to finish with match figures of 13 for 91. England won by an innings and 189 runs.
This was only South Africa's second Test (after the 1888-89 series); they did not win their first Test until 1906. The 1891-92 tour established Newlands as a Test ground and confirmed Cape cricket's place in the international game. JJ Ferris, who took 235 wickets at 5.46 across the whole tour, was already terminally ill with TB and died in the Boer War of enteric fever in 1900.
21 Nov 1891: English side sails from Southampton.
Dec 1891 - Mar 1892: 20 matches played; 13 won, 7 drawn.
19 Mar 1892: Only Test begins at Newlands.
South Africa 97; Ferris 6 for 54.
England 369; Henry Wood 134* — first Test century by a wicketkeeper.
South Africa 83; Ferris 7 for 37.
England win by an innings and 189 runs.
Nov 1891
English side sails for Cape Town.
Dec 1891 - Mar 1892
20 matches; 13 wins, 7 draws.
19-22 Mar 1892
Only Test at Newlands; England win by innings and 189.
1895-96
Lohmann's tour — South Africa's third Test series.
“The English captain managed the side with judgment and tact, and the tour was a complete success in every sense.”
Read was knighted in 1903 (for cricket and unrelated services); he died in 1907. Ferris died of enteric fever as a Trooper in the South African Light Horse during the Boer War in November 1900, aged only 33. The Newlands ground became South Africa's most-used Test venue. South Africa's third Test came only in 1895-96 (Lohmann's tour).
England's second visit to South Africa — a runaway innings win, a wicketkeeper's century, and Ferris's 13 wickets in the only Test. South African Test cricket's second milestone.
The 1891-92 tour confirmed South Africa as a Test nation by participation if not by parity; its single match remains in the Test record book and counts in South Africa's all-time results. Henry Wood's 134* was the first wicketkeeper Test hundred and was not surpassed by another wicketkeeper for fifteen years.
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.