Australia's 276 runs they needed to win. Throughout the tour Ranji and Stoddart had made disparaging comments about Australian crowds in the Australian press, which ensured the matches were played amongst great rancour. Stoddart wrote, "I shall, in all probability, never visit this country again with a cricket team, and what I have said has been purely for the good of the game, for the sake of the players in this country, and of English teams coming out here in the future." Stoddart never did tour Australia again, although at the tour's end Ranji did send an apology, and his popularity did not suffer so much as a result. England in Australia 1897–98. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 6. Series result: Australia won 4–1. Hawke in South Africa 1898–99 Lord Hawke led a second tour to South Africa. Again, the England side was at far from full strength, with 9 Test match debuts for England in the series, most notably that of future English cricket captain Plum Warner, who carried his bat through England's second innings in the first Test for 132. The first Test was South Africa's best to date, and they were set 132 to win. But Albert Trott, who also played three Tests for Australia, took 5 for 49 to dismiss them for 99. South Africa had a chance to record their first Test victory in the second Test, after dismissing England for 99, then scoring 177 themselves. 330 from England set them a challenging 246. But the South Africans collapsed again and were bowled out by Schofield Haigh (6 for 11) and Trott (4 for 19) for a feeble 35 off only 114 balls. Murray Bisset, who was a little under 23 years old, was the youngest Test captain at time and remained so for more than 50 years. He later became the chief justice of Rhodesia and earned a knighthood. England in South Africa 1898–99. Match length: 3 days. Balls per over: 5. Series result: England won 2–0. English summer of 1899 It was known that the Australian side that would tour in 1899 would be a strong one, probably the strongest since 1882. And for the first time in England, 5 Tests were going to be played. MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee for the first time. It comprised 3 active players: Lord Hawke, WG Grace and HW Bainbridge the captain