page_title: South Africa national cricket team
section_title: The inter-war years
hierarchical_section_title: South Africa national cricket team / History / The inter-war years
caption_attribution_description: Dudley Nourse, a member of the South Africa cricket team
context_page_description: The South Africa national cricket team also known as Proteas represents South Africa in men's international cricket, is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 International status.
  South Africa entered first-class and international cricket at the same time when they hosted an England cricket team in the 1888–89 season. At first, the team was no match for Australia or England but, having gained in experience and expertise, they were able to field a competitive team in the first decade of the 20th century. The team regularly played against Australia, England and New Zealand through to the 1960s, by which time there was considerable opposition to the country's apartheid policy and an international ban was imposed by the ICC, commensurate with actions taken by other global sporting bodies. When the ban was imposed, South Africa had developed to a point where its team was arguably the best in the world and had just outplayed Australia.
context_section_description: The war brought in its wake the temporary suspension of international cricket. The Currie Cup, which had hitherto not been held during the years of The Boer War (1899–1902) and on the years when England had visited as a touring team, faced cancellation during the years of war (1914–18). Cricketing activity in South Africa resumed to normal with the armistice in November 1918.
  Post World War I, South Africa first hosted in 1919–20 an Australian Imperial Forces side boasting cricketers of the calibre of Jack Gregory, Herbie Collins, Bert Oldfield, and Nip Pellew. The South African XI lost both of their matches against them.
  Australia became the first international team to make an official tour to South Africa in 1921–22. The first two tests at Durban and Johannesburg were drawn, with Australia sealing the series 1–0 with a 10-wicket win in the 3rd Test at Cape Town. Herbie Taylor, who captained the South Africans, finished with 200 runs at 33.33. Claude Carter was the South Africans' leading bowler, taking 15 wickets at 21.93.
  The following season, in 1922–23, an English cricket team toured. Just like nine years previous Taylor was at his best. In the first Test at Johannesburg he batted at number three and in the second innings scored a superb 176, the next highest score in the match was 50. Taylor's knock included 25 boundaries and was the largest by a South African against England. South Africa won the Test by 168 runs, it was Taylor's first victory as captain and as a Test player. He followed that in the second Test with scores of 9 and 68 as England narrowly won by one wicket. In the third Test at Durban he was moved back up to open the innings, he scored 91 and shared 110 with Bob Catterall. The third days play was washed out leaving the draw inevitable in a four-day match. The fourth Test was also drawn, Taylor scored 11 at number four and when moved back as opener in the second innings made 101. Wisden wrote: "Taylor, who hit out freely when fear of defeat had gone, played a masterly game, but he had a little luck". With the series still level at 1–1, the fifth and final Test was made Timeless to ensure a winner of the series. England's C. A. G. Russell scored two centuries in the match and South Africa were set a target of fourth innings target of 344. Taylor, at number four, batted for four and a half hours over an innings of 102 however he received little support from his teammates and South Africa lost by 109 runs. Taylor finished the series with 582 runs at 64.66 and was the highest scorer on either side, his total was 278 more than the next South African. His series total was at the time a Test record for a captain, later surpassed by Don Bradman in 1936. His three centuries in the series set a South African Test record which was only bettered in 2003/04 by Jacques Kallis. The Wisden report of the series recorded that "H. W. Taylor as a batsman was in a class by himself". The series cemented Taylor's position as a leading batsman in the world.
  With Faulkner retiring in 1924, the South Africans, who had only two quality players in Taylor and Cattrell, underwent somewhat of a barren period in the 1920s. However, the emergence of a new generation of South African cricketers, more so in their batting than in their bowling, in the 1930s such as Bruce Mitchell, Xen Balaskas, Ken Viljoen, Dudley Nourse, Eric Rowan, Alan Melville, Pieter van der Bijl, and Ronnie Grieveson once again ensured that South Africa became a top quality international team. The team's leading batsmen during this era were Mitchell, Nourse, Rowan, Melville, and van der Bijl. Nourse, in particular, became famous for his hand-eye co-ordination and his excellent fielding, one of many to be produced by South Africa in the coming decades; natural skills which were according to legend inspired and developed by his father Dave's refusal to coach him as a youngster, demanding that he learnt the rudiments of the game on his own, as he himself had. This South African team was also distinct from past South African teams in one respect: whereas the previou
caption: Dudley Nourse, who scored 2960 Test runs in 34 Tests at 53.81 and had 9 centuries to his credit, at the time a national record
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