England confirm South Africa tour schedule

LONDON: England´s tour of South Africa in 2015/16 will span just over two months, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Monday as they released the fixture schedule.

All three formats of the international game will be on show during a December-February trip featuring four Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches.

For what is likely to be a select group involved from England´s December 11 arrival to the final Twenty20 on February 21, they will have been on tour for 72 days.

Generally speaking, England tours no longer span the Christmas holiday period but exceptions are made for Australia and South Africa because of the tradition of playing a Test match on Boxing Day (December 26) in both those countries.

The latest South Africa schedule is no exception, with the First Test at Durban´s Kingsmead ground starting on December 26.

"Any tour of South Africa is special and as the Proteas currently set the benchmark in Test and ODI cricket it will be a real challenge which our emerging team will relish," said ECB managing director Paul Downton.

"We can be assured of fantastic support in South Africa from the thousands of loyal supporters who always follow us around the country -- particularly at the Boxing Day Test in Durban and the New Year Test at Newlands in Cape Town," the former England wicketkeeper added.

England will have two three-day games ahead of the first Test, with the remainder of the series taking place at Newlands, Johannesburg´s Wanderers ground and Centurion.

England´s last tour of South Africa, in 2009/10, saw the Test series shared 1-1 while the last Test campaign between the two countries saw the Proteas buck recent modern trends by winning away from home courtesy of a 2-0 success in a three-match contest in England in 2012.

England 2015/16 tour of South Africa fixtures:
Dec 15-17: SA Invitation XI v England, Potchefstroom
Dec 20-22: SA Invitation XI v England, Pietermaritzburg
Dec 26-30: FIRST TEST, Kingsmead, Durban
Jan 02-06: SECOND TEST, Newlands, Cape Town
Jan 14-18: THIRD TEST, Wanderers, Johannesburg
Jan 22-26: FOURTH TEST, Centurion
Jan 30: One-day tour match, Kimberley
Feb 03: FIRST ODI, Blomefontein
Feb 06: SECOND ODI, St. George´s Park, Port Elizabeth
Feb 09: THIRD ODI, Centurion
Feb 12: FOURTH ODI, Wanderers, Johannesburg
Feb 14: FIFTH ODI, Newlands, Cape Town
Feb 17: T20 match, SA Invitation XI v England, Paarl
Feb 19: FIRST T20, Newlands, Cape Town
Feb 21: SECOND T20, Wanderers, Johannesburg
(AFP)