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Hampshire Cricket's historian Dave Allen previews Sunday's IT20 between England and South Africa by looking at the visitors previous matches in the county
By Dave Allen
The first South African tourists came to England in 1894, the last year when Hampshire were designated a second-class county. They played no Test Matches but following defeat at the historic Sheffield Park, East Sussex they came to Southampton where in a two-day match, Hampshire posted 408 (AJL Hill 109) forced the follow-on and were still ahead when stumps were drawn.
The South Africans were not then a strong side. They toured again in 1901 by which time one of their better players, CB (‘Buck’) Llewellyn had become Hampshire first regular ‘overseas’ player – the predecessor of Barry Richards, Robin & Chris Smith, Steven Jefferies, Nick Pothas, Neil McKenzie, Gareth Berg, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn and from the current staff Kyle Abbott, James Fuller, Brad Wheal, John Turner and coach Adi Birrell.
In 1901, they were still not playing Tests and a very weak Hampshire side beat them by an innings with Llewellyn scoring 216 and taking six wickets against his fellow countrymen. In 1904 the South Africans had their revenge, beating us by an innings in two days in the only first-class match ever played at Anstey Park, Alton. They toured again in 1907 (match drawn) playing three Test Matches and while they lost the series 1-0 their four googly bowlers made a big impression.
Their next tour in 1912 was unusual as England hosted a triangular tournament, including a weakened Australian side. Hampshire’s CB Fry became the first of three Hampshire men to captain England – the third Kevin Pietersen was a South African. Against Hampshire they drew a low-scoring match in which Phil Mead scored 64* & 77*. In the same season for Hampshire he scored 160* & 33* as we beat the Australians for the first time – a total of 334 runs without being dismissed against the two touring sides.
The South Africans then visited on each tour, 1924, 1929, 1935, 1947,1951, 1955, 1960 and 1965 before their ban from international sport. When the tours resumed they came here in 1994, drawing a match which suffered with the rain on day three but not before Sean Morris scored 101*.
Six countries have played in Test Matches at the The Ageas Bowl but not yet the South Africans (or Australians!). They were however the first side to win an ODI there when in 2003, they beat near neighbours Zimbabwe (with Heath Streak and Sean Ervine) by seven wickets. In 2012 they returned and beat England by 80 runs after posting 287-5 in 50 overs, with future Hampshire batter Hashim Amla scoring 150. In 2017 England reversed their fortunes in a thriller, scoring 330-6 (Ben Stokes 101 from 79 balls), to beat South Africa 328-5 by just two runs, with future Southern Brave Quentin de Kock 98. In 2019, South Africa fielded four ‘Hampshire’ players Amla, de Kock, Chris Morris and Imran Tahir but lost their World Cup match to India by six wickets, while in the same tournament their meeting with West Indies was rained off after about forty minutes.
South Africa have played just one previous IT20 match at the The Ageas Bowl. In 2017, England had them 32-3 and while they recovered to post 142-3 England won easily, losing only Jason Roy (28) with Hales (47*) and Bairstow 60 from 35 balls seeing them home with five overs and three balls to spare. We might hope for the same result this week, but perhaps a closer finish.
