v
After their triumphs in Australia in 1952-53, the SA cricket team played two Test matches in New Zealand, winning one and drawing the other.
In the first Test at Wellington, SA won by an innings with Jack McGlew scoring what was then SA’s highest individual score of 255 not out. He and all-rounder Anton Murray, who scored his maiden Test century, added a world record 246 for the seventh wicket.
In 1953-54, New Zealand toured SA, who won the series 4-0 with one Test drawn.
The 1954-55 season was an important one for SA, with an arduous six-month tour of England.
Jack Cheetham was again announced as captain of the squad with McGlew as vice-captain. Most of the players selected had toured Australia and New Zealand two years previously, but in the team were two fast bowlers and an all-rounder who were destined to play important roles for SA in the future. Hard-hitting batsman Paul Winslow, leg-spinner Ian Smith and reserve keeper Chris Duckworth were added to the squad.
The fast bowlers Neil Adcock and Peter Heine were selected after excellent performances in the Currie Cup and they were joined by 23-year-old Natal medium-pacer and left-hand opening batsman Trevor Goddard. He played so well that he kept Murray out of the Tests and went on to represent SA until 1970, scoring more than 2,000 runs and capturing more than 100 wickets. He was considered as the top all-rounder in world cricket during the late 1950s and early 1960s and was the captain of the successful 1963-64 touring team in Australia and New Zealand.
SA were slow to get into their stride on the 1955 tour. England, under the captaincy of Peter May, won the first two Tests and there was a huge setback for SA in the second Test at Lord’s when skipper Cheetham injured his elbow and was unable to play for almost two months. Heine captured 5/60 on debut, SA took a lead of 171 on the first innings thanks to Roy McLean’s 142, but some superb bowling by Brian Statham, who captured 7/39, led to a second inning score of only 111 and defeat by 71 runs.
McGlew took over and captained the tourists in the third and fourth Test matches and both matches were won. At Old Trafford in Manchester in the third Test, SA won by three wickets with about three minutes left. McGlew, wicketkeeper John Waite and Winslow all scored centuries.
SA outplayed England in the fourth Test at Headingly, Leeds, winning by 224 runs. In England’s second innings Goddard bowled 62 overs for only 69 runs while taking five wickets.
McGlew scored another century and Russell Endean made 116 in SA’s second innings when, as they did in Manchester, SA reached a total of 500.
In the fifth Test, England took a 39-run lead on the first innings, then scored 204, with Hugh Tayfield capturing 5/60. Set 244 to win, Jim Laker (5/56) and Tony Lock (4/62) proceeded to dismiss SA for 151 for England to take the honours and win a most exciting series 3-2.
Ahead for SA were five-match series against both England in 1956-57 and Australia the next season at home. They had proven to be among the top cricket nations, but would they be able to continue their excellent run in the 1950s?
