South Africa v England
1889-03-12
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.
England (cricket) / Hollywood (film)
1889-03-12
C Aubrey Smith captained England in his only Test in 1889, took 5 for 19, and never played another international. Forty-three years later, the same man — now a Hollywood character actor in his seventies — founded the Hollywood Cricket Club, persuaded Boris Karloff and David Niven to play, and lived in Beverly Hills until his death in 1948. The arc from St George's Park to Beverly Hills is one of cricket's strangest biographies.
England v South Africa
1889-03-12
Charles Aubrey Smith was a tall fast-medium Sussex amateur with one of the strangest run-ups in cricket history — a sweeping curve that started from deep mid-off or even from behind the umpire and brought him in at the crease from an unexpected angle. WG Grace remarked it was 'rather startling when he suddenly appears at the bowling crease'. In March 1889, Smith captained the first English side to play a Test in South Africa, took 5/19 in the first innings of that Test, and remains the only player ever to captain England in his one and only Test appearance.