South African cricket team in England in 1951 South African cricket team in England in 1951 The South African cricket team toured England in the 1951 season to play a five-match Test series against England. England won the series 3-1 with 1 match drawn. The South African team was captained by Dudley Nourse, with Eric Rowan as vice-captain. The manager was Sid Pegler who had toured England as a player with the South African cricket team of 1912 and 1924. The full team was: Tayfield was not originally chosen, but joined the party in May when it was feared that Athol Rowan's health might not be up to
World Series Cricket in the hitherto conservative world of cricket. Not unexpectedly, the English were critical of what they quickly dubbed the "Packer Circus" and reserved particular vitriol for the English captain Tony Greig, for his central role in organising the break-away. Greig retained his position in the team, but was stripped of the captaincy and ostracised by everyone in the cricket establishment, most of whom had been singing his praises just weeks before. It seemed certain that all Packer players would be banned from Test and first class cricket. The Australian players were a divided group and the management made their displeasure