How all the nations fared on their Test debut

South Africa (vs England): 12-13 March, 1889 (3-day match)

Result: South Africa (84 & 129) lost to England (148 & 67/2) by 8 wickets

Venue: St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

The match, then referred to as South African XI against Major Warton’s XI, was retrospectively awarded Test status and renamed South Africa vs England in 1897. The match was played on a green matting, that led to it being a low scoring affair, with Englishman Robert Abel top scoring with 46 in his side’s first innings.

Incidentally, this was also South Africa’s first First-Class match as there had been no First-Class cricket in South Africa before 1889. Allocation of retrospective status was bound to be controversial and it was argued that standards in South Africa were so poor that the two matches should not have been rated first-class, let alone Test.