The
England cricket team toured South Africa during the 1930β31 season, playing five Test matches against the
South Africa national team and 15 tour matches (11
first-class under the banner of the
Marylebone Cricket Club against local sides. The tour began on 8 November 1930 with a match against
Western Province and ended on 10 March 1931 at the conclusion of another match against the same side. The five Tests were played between 24 December 1930 and 25 February 1931. The Test series was won 1β0 by South Africa, who won the first Test, with the remaining four being drawn.
This was the first Test in South Africa to be played on a turf pitch; all 40 previous Test matches in the country had been played on matting, as were the following two games in this series.[1]
Note: during the isolation of South Africa from international cricket between 1970 and 1991, there were seven unofficial tours (italicised below) by various teams, collectively known as the
South African rebel tours.