English cricket team in South Africa in 1930–31
# English cricket team in South Africa in 1930–31

The England cricket team toured South Africa during the 1930–31 season, playing five Test matches against the South Africa national team and 15 tour matches (11 first-class under the banner of the Marylebone Cricket Club against local sides. The tour began on 8 November 1930 with a match against Western Province and ended on 10 March 1931 at the conclusion of another match against the same side. The five Tests were played between 24 December 1930 and 25 February 1931. The Test series was won 1–0 by South Africa, who won the first Test, with the remaining four being drawn.

## Test series

### 1st Test

* 24–27 December 1930 Scorecard
* South Africa won by 28 runs Old Wanderers, Johannesburg Umpires: WT Ryan and GB Treadwell
* England won the toss and elected to field.
* SH Curnow, KG Viljoen, XC Balaskas and ES Newson (SA) made their test debuts.

### 2nd Test

* 1–5 January 1931 Scorecard
* Match drawn Newlands, Cape Town Umpires: JC Collings and WT Ryan
* South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.
* This was the first Test in South Africa to be played on a turf pitch; all 40 previous Test matches in the country had been played on matting, as were the following two games in this series.

### 3rd Test

* 16–20 January 1928 Scorecard
* Match drawn Kingsmead, Durban Umpires: JC Collings and AC King
* South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.
* For the first time, eleven different counties were represented in England's team

### 4th Test

* 13–17 February 1931 Scorecard
* Match drawn Old Wanderers, Johannesburg Umpires: JC Collings and AC King
* England won the toss and elected to bat.

### 5th Test

* 21–25 February 1931 Scorecard
* Match drawn Kingsmead, Durban Umpires: JC Collings and AC King
* England won the toss and elected to field.
* JAK Cochran (SA) made his Test debut.
* The start of the match was delayed by 20 minutes because the correct size bails were unavailable and the umpires had to make two sets.
