It was not until 17 years after South Africa made their test debut, that they won their first match in the format. They made their test debut in 1889 against England at the Saint George's park and lost by 8 wickets. It was a 2 match series and the team suffered a massive defeat by an innings and 202 runs in the second match played at Newlands. The next time South Africa took the field in test cricket was three years later in 1891-1892. In a one-off test against England, they suffered another defeat by an innings and 189 runs. Their next test match came four years later in the form of a three-match test series against England. This time as well, the result was no different. The first match of the three match series was played at the Saint George's Park which England won by 288 runs. The second match was played at the Old Wanderers Stadium and South Africa lost by an innings and 197 runs. The third and final match of the series played at Newlands had a similar result as England won by an innings and 33 runs. The next time South Africa played test cricket, it was in 1999 at the Old Wanderers Stadium when they lost by a slim margin of 32 runs. This was the closest that they came to a test victory but could not get over the line. Their first drawn match came against Australia in 1902. This was the first time that South Africa were up against a team other than England in test cricket and a change in the result showed. However, Australia proved too good for them in the remaining two matches of the series and won by 159 runs at the Old Wanderers Stadium and by 10 wickets at Newlands. South Africa had a gap of four years to prepare for their next test match until they played their 12th test match against England at the Old Wanderers Stadium. This time South Africa were successful in going over the line and won by a slim margin of one wicket. As a result, the team ended the 17-year drought to register their first test victory, winning the 1906 series 4-1 against England.
