The , also known as '''The Proteas''', is a national
Cricket team representing
South Africa . It is administrated by
Cricket South Africa .
South Africa is a full member of the
International Cricket Council with
Test and
One-day International status.
South Africa played its first Test match in
1889 (against
England at
Port Elizabeth ), becoming the third Test nation.
In
1970 , the ICC voted to suspend South Africa from international cricket indefinitely because of its government's policy of
Apartheid , a policy which led them to play only against the white nations (England, Australia, New Zealand). The ICC reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in
1991 after the deconstruction of apartheid, and the team played its first sanctioned match since 1970 (and its first ever one-day international) against
India in
Calcutta on
10 November 1991 .
Since its return to international cricket, South Africa has remained one of the strongest international sides, competing with
Australia for the acknowledgement as the best cricket team in the world.
South Africa has an unfortunate record of failing to win major championships. The
1992 Cricket World Cup , for example, featured a rain-affected match played before the introduction of the
Duckworth-Lewis Method . As a result, South Africa was left in the ludicrous situation of requiring 22 runs from one ball in order to progress. At the
1999 Cricket World Cup , South Africa played against Australia in the last Super Six match as well as the knock-out semifinal. Australia defeated the Proteas in the Super Six match and recorded a thrilling tie in the semifinal, which was enough to knock the Africans out of the tournament since Australia had previously beaten them (in the match immediately beforehand). It is in the
Super Six match that
Steve Waugh is reputed to have told
Herschelle Gibbs "Mate, you just dropped the World Cup" when the latter dropped him en route to a match-winning century. The image of the South Africans following the run-out of their last batsman has become an iconic sporting image, referenced by
The Twelfth Man , among others.
South Africa hosted the
2003 Cricket World Cup , but failed to progress beyond the group stage due to a misunderstanding of how many runs they needed to score in a rain-affected run chase. As a result of this,
Shaun Pollock resigned as captain and was replaced by young batsman
Graeme Smith , although Pollock continues to play for the team. Under Smith's leadership, South Africa has achieved some success, although they have been hampered by the retirements of many star players, including fast bowler
Allan Donald and one-day specialist
Jonty Rhodes . As a result, they had a poor 2004, only winning against the West Indies.
However, they won the inaugural
ICC Champions Trophy in 1998, beating West Indies in the finals, and also won the first and most likely the only
Commonwealth Games gold in cricket in the same year. They are currently ranked second in the world in the One Day International Cricket rankings and are rated in the top five for Test cricket rankings. This is due to a long streak from January to November 2005, in which they were not defeated.
They also hold the record of the Largest Successful Run Chase and the Highest Team Total in one-day internationals (438-9 in 49.5 overs), in
An Iconic Match against
Australia on
12 March 2006 . This game is considered by many to be the greatest one-day international ever played.
For World Cups from 1975 to 1987 inclusive, South Africa were not an ICC member, and therefore ineligible to compete in the tournament.
(second right) bowls at the
WACA Ground ,
Perth ,
Australia on
16 December 2005 , the first day of the First Test,
Australia v South Africa. Ntini took five wickets for 64 runs on the day. He made his international debut at the WACA, in
1998 .]]
In 1998,
Makhaya Ntini became the first
Black player in the South African team.
South Africa was led for many years by the mercurial
Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje . A talented captain, Cronje is perhaps most famous on the field for his actions in the fifth Test against England in early 2000. In this match, both Cronje and then-English captain
Nasser Hussain declared one innings closed at 0/0 (England's first innings and South Africa's second), leaving England 76 overs to chase 249 runs in a rain-affected match. England eventually won the match and the series, but the decision was applauded for increasing the chance of a result, instead of a draw.
Cronje, however, was later banned from cricket for
Accepting Bribes To Lose Matches , a scandal which is still being investigated by police and cricket authorities. His replacement was allrounder Shaun Pollock, a member of a long-established South African cricketing family. Cronje attempted to rehabilitate himself, but was tragically killed in an aeroplane crash shortly before the
2003 Cricket World Cup .
