Tyldesley began the season with a run of indifferent scores and did not make a half-century until his fourteenth match, starting on 1 July at Old Trafford, when he scored 54 and 53 against Essex. He followed up with three successive centuries, scoring 106 and 100 not out in the same match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and then 174, his highest score to date, against Sussex at Old Trafford. After that, his form lapsed again and, apart from one innings of 68 against Somerset at Old Trafford, he made low scores only, including four ducks, in the remainder of the season. He generally batted at number five for Lancashire in 1897. His season tally was 1,017 runs in 26 matches at the average of 30.81. He scored three centuries, three half-centuries and held 13 catches. He surpassed 1,000 runs in a season for the first time, going on to achieve the feat in each of nineteen successive seasons. Tyldesley scored 1,918 runs in 1898 including his first double-century. He was invited to join Lord Hawke's tour of South Africa the following winter. England tour of South Africa : 1898–99 Tyldesley played for England for the first time against South Africa in 1898–99. He hit a decisive 112 in one of the Tests. Lancashire and England : 1899 to 1900 In 1899, Tyldesley played his first Ashes Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord's. He failed in these matches, but by this time was established as a top-class batsman with a superb range of strokes and wonderful footwork that made him effective even on pitches where the ball had considerable spin it did after rain in those days. 1901 season In the 1901 season, Tyldesley scored 3,041 runs in first-class matches. As a result, he was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1902 edition. Wisden commented that he would have done even better but for the unpredictable state of the Old Trafford pitch in the early part of the season. England tour of Australia : 1901–02 Tyldesley was not at his best in the Tests. Lancashire and England : 1902 to 1903 In 1902 his "superb" 138 in four and a half hours at Edgbaston was critical in placing England in a winning position. Almost twenty years later, Jessop remarked on the accuracy of his cutting. For Lancashire his batting, regardless of the weather, was "consistently