South Africa Cricket

Captain – Faf du Plessis (Tests & ODI), Quinton de Kock (T20I)

Head Coach – Thabiso Enoch Nkwe

Representing – South Africa

Team Colour – Green

Sponsorship – Standard Bank

The South Africa Cricket Team is the sole representative of the Republic of South Africa in all the events organised by the International Cricket Council such as the ICC World Test Championship, ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, etc. Also, this team represents the Republic of South Africa in all the international bilateral and multilateral series which are recognised by ICC from time to time.

1. History
2. Performance in Major Tournaments
3. Governing Body
4. Support Staff
5. The South African Team Jersey
6. Records
7. Trophies and Awards
8. Fan Following

History

South Africa became the third team to play Test cricket when it played a two-match series against England cricket team beginning from 12 March 1889 at port Elizabeth. However, South Africa lost the series by a margin of 2-0.

The South African team started off with their One Day International cricket on 10 November 1991, when they played against India at Kolkata. It was three-match series that resulted in an Indian victory by a 2-1 margin.

The T20 International cricket came to South Africa in 2005, when New Zealand cricket team came as the opponent of South Africa at Johannesburg on 21 October 2005 and defeated the new entrant by a 5 wicket margin.

South African Cricket team was banned from international cricket in 1970 for social causes going on in the country. The ban was lifted in 1991, and the South African team has emerged to be one of the finest cricket teams post the ban.

Performance in Major Tournaments

The South African team has participated in every edition of the ICC tournament, except for the first four Cricket World Cups due to the ban from international cricket. Also, it was the first team to win the ICC Champions trophy back in 1998, which remains its only ICC tournament victory till date.

ICC Cricket World Cup

The South African team has played 64 matches so far in 8 World Cups and has won 38 of the matches. With only 23 losses in the ODI World Cup, South Africa has one of the best winning percentages in the world Cup. However, they are yet to play a World cup final although they have played four semifinals so far in 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2015.

South Africa’s performance in ICC Cricket World Cup:

*Last updated in Nov 2019

ICC Champions Trophy

South Africa has also participated in all the editions of the ICC Champions Trophy and has won the inaugural edition of the tournament. It has played 24 matches over 8 editions of the tournaments and has won 12 of the matches. Also, it has played the semifinals of the tournament 5 times in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2013.

Team South Africa’s performance in ICC Champions Trophy:

*Last updated in Nov 2019

ICC T20 World Cup

The cricket team of South Africa hosted the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 but was eliminated in the Super 8 round. So far, the team has participated in 6 T20 World Cups and played 30 matches in the tournament over a span of 9 years. It has won 18 matches and lost 12, with two appearances in the semifinals — 2009 and 2014.

South Africa’s performance in ICC T20 World Cup:

*Last updated in Nov 2019

Governing Body

The supreme body recognised by the International Cricket Council for cricket in South Africa is Cricket South Africa, which has its headquarters at Johannesburg in South Africa. It was established as the United Cricket Cricket Board of South Africa on 29 June 1991 and was later renamed as Cricket South Africa. The Chief Executive officer of the organisation is Thabang Monroe.

Cricket South Africa is the organiser of the domestic tournaments of South Africa, such as Sunfoil Series, Momentum One Day Cup and the T20 Domestic Cup. The newly established Mzansi Super League is the T20 league organised by Cricket South Africa.

Support Staff

The Support Staff for South Africa Cricket team is led by the Director of the team, Thabiso Enoch Nkwe. It consists of coaches and trainers as well, who are recruited by Cricket South Africa.

The South African Team Jersey

The South African team plays Test Cricket in Flannels, like the other teams. However, it has a green jersey for limited-overs cricket, with yellow patches on the shirt and trousers as Yellow is their secondary colour. Also, the emblem of the South Africa Sports Commission, known as the King Protea badge appears on the left of the shirt. The logo of the current sponsor, Standard Bank appears on the right side of the shirt. The logo of the kit manufacturer, New Balance Athletics appears on the left sleeve of the shirt.

Also see - Sri Lanka Team

The shirt for One Day Internationals is light green, whereas for the T20 internationals, it is yellow and the trousers remain green in all the limited-overs matches of South Africa. For ICC Tournaments, the jersey is modified and the logo of the tournament appears on the right side of the shirt. The logos of the Sponsor and kit manufacturer are placed on the sleeves and “South Africa” is printed across the front of the shirt.

The South Africa Cricket team also plays in an all pink colour jersey as a means to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. This jersey was launched in 2016, and South Africa uses it time and again to bring lucky charms as well because it is a fact that South Africa has never lost a match when playing in the pink jersey.

Records

The South African team has played a total of 1168 matches in international cricket and was the third cricket playing nation. In the Test match format, South Africa has won 164 matches out of 434 played whereas, in the One Day Internationals, they have won 381 matches out of the 619 matches played so far. Even in T20 cricket, South Africa is regarded as a strong team with a winning percentage of 66.17%.

*Last updated in Nov 2019

South Africa was the part of the match which recorded the highest aggregate score in test Cricket, against England on 3 March 1939 at Durban where 1981 runs were scored. Also, South Africa remains the only team to have forfeited an innings in a Test match at the international level. This happened against England on 14-18 January 2000 at Centurion but it came out to be an instance of Match-fixing by the proteas skipper Hanse Cronje and a bookie who promised him a leather jacket and 50000 rands for the task.

In the One Day Internationals, South Africa holds the record for the highest total scored in a match when batting second — this was made when they successfully chased a target of 435 runs against Australia cricket team on 12 March 2006 at Johannesburg. Coincidentally, South Africa recorded their smallest victory by wickets in the same match — by 1 wicket. This match also recorded the highest aggregate score in ODIs, with a total score of 872 runs.

Trophies and Awards

The South Africa Cricket team has won only one ICC Trophy so far — the 1998 Champions Trophy which was held in Bangladesh. The inability of the team to perform well in the ICC tournaments has given it an unwanted tag of “Chokers”.

Fan Following

Despite being one of the strongest teams in the World, the fan base of the South African Cricket team is very small. This is largely because Cricket is not so popular in South Africa — Soccer and rugby occupy the top spots among the South Africans. However, the Proteas team receives ample support when playing the ICC Tournaments and at Home Grounds. On Social media, Cricket South Africa has 1.12 million Twitter followers and 4.1 million Facebook fans.