English cricket team in South Africa in 1898–99

An English cricket team, organised and led by Lord Hawke, toured South Africa from December 1898 to April 1899. The team played two matches against the South Africa national cricket team which were retrospectively awarded Test status. There is uncertainty about the status of South African cricket as a whole in the late nineteenth century and so only two of Hawke's matches against provincial teams, those involving Transvaal and Cape Colony, are rated first-class. Hawke's XI is designated England for the Test series which they won 2–0. The South African teams were captained by Murray Bisset. Hawke's team was generally average in quality and nothing like a full-strength England team, but it did include three of the best players of the time in Schofield Haigh, Johnny Tyldesley and Albert Trott, although Trott's previous Test cricket had been for Australia.