Walter Read's South Africa Tour — England's Second Test Visit Wins by an Innings, March 1892

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.

“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).