Cricket in South Africa


is the third most popular sport in South Africa, and is popular among English-speaking as well as Afrikaans-speaking whites, the Asian/Indian community and has grown substantially in the black community. South Africa is one of the world's leading cricket-playing nations, and is one of 12 countries sanctioned by the International Cricket Council to play Test Cricket.
It also hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup and the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007..

History

in South Africa was established by the British, and the first tour by a side from England took place in 1888–89. Here South Africa played its first Test match, 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, an overtly racist policy, which led them to play only against the white nations, and field only white players. This decision brought an abrupt end to the Test careers of hugely talented players such as Graeme Pollock, Peter Pollock, Barry Richards, Mike Procter and Eddie Barlow. It would also cause the emigration of future stars like Tony Greig, Allan Lamb and Robin Smith, who all played for England, and Kepler Wessels, who initially played for Australia, before returning to South Africa.
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 against India in Calcutta on 10 November 1991.
In April 2019, Cricket South Africa announced changes to its domestic structure, including scrapping the T20 Challenge tournament, and increasing the six franchise teams to twelve provincial teams from May 2020.

Demographics

was traditionally popular among English-speaking whites, and the Asian/Indian community, though the latter were not able to compete in top level South African cricket in the Apartheid era. Since the end of the Apartheid era a higher proportion of white players have come from Afrikaans-speaking backgrounds like Lance Klusener, Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Allan Donald, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Francois du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn among others. Its popularity has grown markedly amongst other groups, though cricket remains the favourite sport for Coloured and Asian/Indian as well as people of English descent. This has other reasons, since cricket can be an expensive and is a typically middle class game, it does not appeal to blacks like football or rugby union does. However, a considerable number of blacks have played cricket for South Africa since the late 1990s, the most notable being Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo, Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngidi.

Governing body

Formerly known as the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Cricket South Africa is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in South Africa.
South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council and African Cricket Association with Test and One Day International status.

Domestic cricket

Franchise cricket

South Africa's first-class competition began in 1889–1890 and was known as the Currie Cup. The competition was mainly contested by provincial sides until the 2003–2004 season, after which the domestic structure was revamped to introduce six franchise teams. South Africa's three major domestic competitions are the Sunfoil Series, the Momentum One Day Cup and T20 Challenge. The T20 Challenge was stopped after the 2018–19 season, with the Mzansi Super League taking over as the main T20 tournament in the country.
Generally encompassing more than one provincial associate team, six teams were formed to take part in the SuperSport Series, MTN Championships and Pro 20 Series competitions, starting from the 2004-2005 season.
In addition to the franchise tournaments, the 13 provincial teams compete in the CSA Provincial Competitions. These include a first-class, List A and Twenty20 tournament. A representative side from neighbouring Namibia also competed from 2006 to 2018, but in October 2018 Namibia withdrew from South Africa's provincial competitions citing issues around costs and logistics.

Mzansi Super League

The Mzansi Super League, which began in 2018 as the new premier tournament in South Africa, is contested by six city-based franchise teams.
The Africa T20 Cup was an additional T20 tournament began in 2015 as a curtain-raiser to the 2015–16 South African domestic season. The tournament has been characterised as "essentially a showcase in cricket development". The 13 provincial sides and Namibia competed in the tournament, alongside representative sides from countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Uganda. For the 2018 edition, the number of teams was 20 including two additional provincial sides from Limpopo and Mpumalanga, but this was the last edition of the tournament.

National teams

The South Africa national cricket team, also known as the Proteas is the national cricket team representing South Africa. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.
South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International status. South Africa also runs a women's team.