England Tour of South Africa 2026/27: Tests & ODIs Schedule

The england tour of south africa 2026 27 schedule is three Test matches and three one-day internationals, running from 17 December 2026 to 15 January 2027. For a British follower it is the most civilised overseas assignment on the calendar: South Africa sits two hours ahead of the United Kingdom in winter, so a full day's Test cricket begins over breakfast and is finished by mid-afternoon at home. No alarm clocks, no missed sessions, no waking up to a scorecard.

It is also the tour that ends the Christmas dead zone. England play a Boxing Day Test and a New Year's Test in consecutive fixtures, both against the reigning World Test Championship holders, and both at grounds that carry more atmosphere than almost anything in the game.

The full schedule with UK times

Match	Dates	Ground	City	Local start (SAST)	UK start (GMT)
1st Test	Thu 17 – Mon 21 Dec 2026	The Wanderers	Johannesburg	10:00 (expected)	08:00
2nd Test	Sat 26 – Wed 30 Dec 2026	SuperSport Park	Centurion	10:00 (expected)	08:00
3rd Test	Sun 3 – Thu 7 Jan 2027	Newlands	Cape Town	10:00 (expected)	08:00
1st ODI	Sun 10 Jan 2027	Boland Park	Paarl	10:00	08:00
2nd ODI	Wed 13 Jan 2027	Mangaung Oval	Bloemfontein	13:30 (day/night)	11:30
3rd ODI	Fri 15 Jan 2027	Mangaung Oval	Bloemfontein	13:30 (day/night)	11:30

Dates and venues were confirmed by the ECB and Cricket South Africa. Precise start times for the Tests had not been published in the fixture announcement; ten o'clock is the long-standing convention for a South African Test and the times above assume it. Confirm with Cricket South Africa or the ECB before setting anything in stone, particularly for the one-day leg, where day-night scheduling has moved around in recent seasons.

A Twenty20 international series was originally pencilled into this tour and has since been removed because of scheduling conflicts. Both boards have said they are looking at rescheduling it. Treat any short-format fixture you see advertised for this window with suspicion until one of the two governing bodies says otherwise.

Why the time zone makes this tour different

South Africa runs on South African Standard Time, two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, and it does not observe daylight saving at any point in the year. Britain is on Greenwich Mean Time from late October until late March. The gap is therefore a flat two hours for the whole tour, with no shift to catch anyone out mid-series.

The practical shape of a Test day, working from a ten o'clock local start:

Session	South Africa (SAST)	United Kingdom (GMT)
First ball	10:00	08:00
Lunch	12:00–12:40	10:00–10:40
Tea	14:40–15:00	12:40–13:00
Scheduled close	17:00	15:00

That is the whole of a day's play inside a British working day, ending in time to do something else with the afternoon. Compare it with a Test in Australia, where the day finishes before most people have got out of bed, or one in India, where the last session is over by lunchtime. Nothing else on England's away calendar is this convenient, which is a reasonable argument for making the effort with this one.

The two day-night one-dayers in Bloemfontein are the only fixtures that shift, starting at half past eleven in the morning UK time and running into the early evening. The Paarl match on a Sunday keeps the same eight o'clock start as the Tests.

The three Test grounds

The Wanderers, Johannesburg opens the tour on 17 December. Known universally as the Bullring for the steepness of its stands and the noise they generate, it sits in Illovo in the northern suburbs at around 1,750 metres above sea level. Altitude is the defining variable: the ball carries further, the seamers get more out of the pitch than the raw pace suggests, and the outfield is quick. It has produced some of the most chaotic cricket of the modern era. The ground's longer story is told in our Wanderers history guide.

SuperSport Park, Centurion takes the Boxing Day Test from 26 December. It is in Tshwane, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and it is the most English-feeling of the three in one respect — the grass banks behind the boundary, where a large part of the crowd sits with a cooler box, are closer to a county outground than a stadium. It is also a Highveld ground, so the same altitude effects apply, along with the late-afternoon thunderstorms that are a feature of a Gauteng December. Our full Centurion match guide covers the fixture in detail.

Newlands, Cape Town closes the Test series from 3 January. Table Mountain and Devil's Peak stand directly behind the ground, the oaks line the boundary at the Kelvin Grove end, and it is routinely described as the most beautiful Test venue in the world. It is at sea level, which changes the cricket entirely from what has come before. See our Newlands fixture guide for the ground, the pitch and the travel detail.

The two one-day venues are less familiar. Boland Park in Paarl is in the Cape winelands about an hour from Cape Town, a small ground with a mountain backdrop of its own and a capacity in the region of 10,000. Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein, in the Free State, hosts the final two matches; it is a compact, hot, high-altitude ground that has not seen a great deal of recent international cricket. Between them they take the tour well away from the big three cities, which is a deliberate CSA policy. Our South African grounds guide sets out the wider circuit.

What the Test series is for

South Africa go into this series as the holders of the World Test Championship, having won the 2025 final at Lord's. That is not a footnote — it changes the framing of the whole tour. England arrive as the challengers to a side that reached the summit of the format, on their own grounds, in their own summer.

The three Tests count towards the 2025-27 championship cycle, which culminates in a final in 2027. Points are awarded per match with deductions for slow over rates, a system explained in our championship primer, and the live standings sit on the 2025-27 cycle page. A three-match series in the middle of a Northern Hemisphere winter can decide who plays in that final, which gives a Christmas tour a competitive edge it has not always had.

England have a decent recent record here. Their last Test tour of South Africa, in 2019-20, produced a 3-1 series win after going a match down at Centurion — a result achieved with a young side that had been ill for much of the first Test. The rivalry's longer arc, which goes back to 1889 and includes the isolation years, is covered in our England and South Africa piece.

Squads, availability and the SA20 problem

Touring squads had not been named when this page was published. The ECB typically confirms a Test party several weeks before departure, and anything circulating earlier is speculation.

Two structural points are worth knowing. The first is England's central contract system, which governs who is released for which tour and how workloads are managed across a winter that also includes a white-ball trip to Australia in November; our winter tours and contracts explainer covers how the ECB handles it.

The second is the SA20. South Africa's franchise league occupies January, and its scheduling has repeatedly created friction with the international calendar. The removal of the Twenty20 leg from this tour is very likely a symptom of the same congestion. It also means the England one-day matches in January sit alongside a domestic tournament competing for attention, players and stadium slots — worth remembering if you are trying to buy a ticket or book a hotel in Cape Town in the second week of January.

For England, the players most likely to define the trip are the ones with the longest Test records in these conditions. Ben Stokes and Joe Root have both toured South Africa before, and neither has anything left to prove about batting or bowling on a surface that moves. South Africa's attack has been built around Kagiso Rabada for the best part of a decade, with Marco Jansen supplying the awkward left-arm angle and Aiden Markram the most experienced batter in the top order.

Watching it in the United Kingdom

This is the awkward part, and it needs stating plainly rather than fudged.

Sky Sports held the United Kingdom rights to South Africa's home internationals for more than three decades and did not renew when the contract came to an end. At the time of writing, Cricket South Africa had not announced a British broadcaster for this tour, though it has said publicly that it expects to secure one. Part of the difficulty is calendar rather than appetite: 17 December to 7 January is the most congested window in British sport, with darts, football and racing already committed.

So there is no channel to name yet, and any page telling you otherwise in August 2026 is inventing it. What you can do is check Cricket South Africa's own announcements and the ECB's tour page as December approaches, and expect a deal to be confirmed relatively late. Our overseas broadcast guide explains the mechanism behind all of this — away rights belong to the host board, which is why the answer changes every winter.

Radio is generally the more reliable fallback for an England away tour, whether through the BBC or talkSPORT depending on which holds the audio rights for the series in question, and live text commentary on the BBC Sport app has covered England's overseas matches for years at no cost.

Going out there

South Africa is one of the easier and cheaper overseas tours for a British supporter. Direct overnight flights run from London to Johannesburg and Cape Town, the two-hour time difference means effectively no jet lag, and the exchange rate has historically favoured the pound. December and January are high summer in the Cape, which is also peak domestic holiday season — Cape Town accommodation over the New Year is the single biggest cost on any such trip and books out months ahead.

A sensible pattern for anyone doing part of the tour: Johannesburg and Centurion are forty minutes apart and can be done from one base, with the Gautrain linking the airport, Sandton and Centurion. Cape Town then needs a separate leg, either a two-hour internal flight or a longer drive. Doing all three Tests means roughly three weeks away over Christmas, which is a serious commitment; most travelling supporters pick either the Highveld pair or the Cape Town match.

Tickets are sold through Cricket South Africa's official channels and the host unions. Prices had not been published when this page was written and should be taken from CSA directly rather than from any resale site. The host unions in Gauteng and the Western Cape handle their own allocations, and hospitality packages sold through accredited tour operators are the usual route for a British supporter who leaves it late.

FAQ

When does England's tour of South Africa 2026/27 start?

The first Test begins on Thursday 17 December 2026 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. The tour runs through to the final one-day international on Friday 15 January 2027.

What time do the Tests start in UK time?

South Africa is two hours ahead of the United Kingdom in winter, and neither country changes its clocks during the tour. A ten o'clock local start — the usual convention — means an 08:00 GMT first ball and a close of play at 15:00 GMT. Confirm the exact times with Cricket South Africa when they are published.

How many Tests are England playing in South Africa?

Three: Johannesburg from 17 December, Centurion from 26 December and Cape Town from 3 January. All three count towards the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle.

Are England playing any T20s in South Africa?

Not on this tour. A Twenty20 international series was originally scheduled and has been removed because of fixture congestion, with both boards saying they hope to reschedule it. The white-ball element is three one-day internationals in January.

Which UK channel is showing England in South Africa?

No British broadcaster had been confirmed when this page was written. Sky Sports ended its long-running deal with Cricket South Africa and CSA was still seeking a UK partner. Check CSA and ECB announcements closer to December.

Where are the one-day internationals being played?

The first is at Boland Park in Paarl on 10 January 2027, with the second and third both at Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on 13 and 15 January. The two Bloemfontein matches are day-night fixtures starting at 11:30 GMT.

The england tour of south africa 2026 27 schedule gives British supporters something they rarely get from an away trip: a full Test series played inside their own waking hours, over Christmas, against the world champions. For everything else in England's year, from the home summer to the Australian white-ball leg, see the England cricket hub and our Australian short-format itinerary.