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South Africa National Cricket Team Guide
The Proteas, or South Africa, are governed by Cricket South Africa (CSA). They are full members of the ICC. They participate in various big name events and tournaments such as the ICC ODI World Cup, The Champions Trophy and the ICC T20 World Cup.
History Of The South Africa National Cricket Team
International cricket in South Africa dates back to 1888 when the England cricket team toured the country. The team played Test Cricket up to 1970 before the ICC banned the South Africa national cricket team due to the Apartheid system in the country. South Africa were welcomed back into World Cricket in 1991. South Africa have had success at just one ICC event, inaugurally winning The Champions Trophy in 1998. The South Africa national cricket team have earned the unfortunate reputation of under performing at major tournaments and losing from positions of strength. They have however always been considered a strong team and enjoyed a period of dominance in Test cricket in the early 2010’s.
Where Does The South Africa National Cricket Team Play?
South Africa is home to one of the World’s most picturesque venues, Newlands in Cape Town. Its backdrop is Table Mountain. The Wanderers in Johannesburg is known as The Bull Ring due to its intimidating atmosphere for visiting teams. Pretoria and Durban are also more of the more regular venues for South African cricket.
Former Captains Of The South Africa National Cricket Team
Graeme Smith was deemed an impressive enough character to be handed the captaincy of the South Africa national cricket team at the age 22 taking over from Shaun Pollock in 2003, something which raised eyebrows in World Cricket. However, he went on to disprove doubters, leading his country to a record 54 test wins.
Kepler Wessels actually played 24 Tests for the Australia cricket team during South Africa’s years of International isolation but made his debut for the South Africa national cricket team as captain aged 34 after their readmission to International cricket.
Top Run Scorers In South Africa Cricket National Team History
Jacques Kallis is rightly regarded as one of the finest all round cricketers of the modern era, he made 25,422 runs for the South Africa national cricket team across all formats, recording 62 International centuries.
Top Wicket Takers In South Africa National Cricket Team History
Nephew of one South Africa’s finest batsman Graeme Pollock, Shaun Pollock took 823 wickets for the South Africa national cricket team between 1995-2008.
Memorable Games For The South Africa National Cricket Team
Some have possibly unfairly labelled the South Africa national cricket team as ‘chokers’ in major ICC competitions, but this could have been so different at the 1992 ICC ODI Cricket World Cup. This was the first appearance of the South Africa national cricket team after readmission, and if it wasn’t for the tournament’s crazy rules regarding rain delays, the story could have played out completely different. In the Semi Final against England at Sydney the Proteas needed 22 off 13 balls when rain intervened. On resumption the calculation became an impossible 21 off 1 ball. Farcical.
In March 2006 Johannesburg’s bull ring witnessed one of the greatest ODI’s of all time. Batting first Australia scored a World record 434 for 4 with Ricky Ponting hitting a blistering 164. This record was only going to last a matter of hours as Graeme Smith’s 90 off 55 balls set the tone, then Herchalle Gibbs brutal 175 from just 111 deliveries gave the South Africa national cricket team hope. Remarkably South Africa got home with one wicket and one ball to spare as records tumbled.
