Warton was a retired British Army officer who had served on the general staff in Cape Town and was a member of the Western Province Cricket Club.

[1] He negotiated with local agents called Billy Simkins and William Milton, who obtained sponsorship from Sir Donald Currie, founder of the Castle Shipping Line.

[2] The team was captained by C. Aubrey Smith and included five players with prior international experience in Bobby Abel, Johnny Briggs, Maurice Read, George Ulyett and Harry Wood.

Allocation of retrospective status was bound to be controversial and, in Rowland Bowen's history, he argued that standards in South Africa were so poor that the two matches should not have been rated first-class, let alone Test.

Many of the matches were played on matting as, with rudimentary pitch preparation, surfaces were uneven; they tended to be grassy in coastal areas and hard soli in the interior.

They also played teams representing the cities of Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg and Port Elizabeth.

The tour was successful in legacy terms as it brought South Africa into international cricket and provided a stimulus for their domestic game.

[3] Financially, the tour was not a success as it failed to make a profit and Wisden noted that "it was never intended, or considered necessary, to take out a representative English team for a first trip to the Cape".

James Roberts, another occasional player, took part in the first odds match but then had to return home owing to the death of his father and Ulyett was contracted to replace him.

Only three players (Milton, Smith and Vintcent) played for South Africa again after this season and they totalled three appearances each in their respective Test careers.

Played on a green matting wicket in Port Elizabeth, South African captain Owen Dunell won the toss against Aubrey Smith and chose to bat.

Although South Africa was a very weak team, the performance by Johnny Briggs who took fifteen wickets for 28 runs in the match was exceptional.