South Africa National Cricket Team

The South African National cricket team is associated with Cricket South Africa. Its nickname is Proteas. Faf du Plessis is captain of the team and Ottis Gibson is the coach of the team. The national team appeared in 432 Tests matches, won 164 and lost 144 test matches. The team appeared in 610 One Day International matches, won 377 ODI matches and lost 210 matches. In Twenty20 International matches, the team played 113 matches,67 won and lost in 44 matches. The team was the semi-finalist of T20Is in 2009 and 2014. In ICC rankings the team is at the number at 3^rd position in test cricket, at number 4th in ODI and number 3^rd in T20I rankings. In 1888-89 season South African started its first-class and International cricket when the team was hosting an England cricket team. In the first decade of the 20^th century the team got good experience in cricket to face international teams so they played matches with Australia and England.

Commencement and early advancements:

When the British started to settle in Cape colony they tried to introduce cricket and after this, the cricket grows very fastly in South Africa. In 1808 in Cape Town the capital of South Africa the first ever cricket match was played. For prize money of one thousand six-dollars, the first match was played between two service teams. In 1843  the Port  Elizabeth Cricket Club was founded. It is one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa. Champion Bat was presented by the Port Elizabeth in 1876 for competition between South African towns. In 1876 at Port Elizabeth King William’s Town won the tournament. Later on the next in 1877 at the same venue, the tournament was won by the King William’s Town.  For the progress of cricket in South Africa, Sir Donald Currie sponsored the first English team in 1888 to tour South Africa. Major R.G Warton managed the tour.C.Aubrey Smith was the captain of the team. After this tour, the cricket rapidly grows in South Africa in both formats test and first class. Later on, the Currie Cup became the trophy and was won by Transvaal. Later on in 1889-90, The Currie trophy was won for a national championship of the provincial teams in South Africa.

The emergence of Test cricket in South Africa:

In March 1889 South Africa started its test cricket at St George’s Park, Port Elizbeth. South Africa was at number third nation who play test cricket at that time. South African team played its first test match against England under the captaincy of Owen Robert Dunnell. Later on, their second test match was in Cape Town. In 1906 The Imperial Cricket Conference was formed with England and Australia by South Africa. In their early tests matches the team was unable to show strong performance in the ground. They lost in ten test matches out of their first eleven tests matches. Later on, 1904 South African team improved their performance and began to emerge as a strong team of international standard. They won their first test match after 17 years of their emergence against England in 1906.

Test cricket history:

South African the team played 96 test matches with Australia and won 24 matches against Australia. They lost in 52 matches and 20 matches were drawn between two teams. South African team played mostly test matches with England.149 matches were played between two teams in which 33 were won and 61 were lost by South African team. Against New Zealand, the team played 45 test in which 25 matches were won by the team and 4 test matches were lost by the international team. The South African team played 23 test matches against Pakistan,12 won and 4 lost by the team against Pakistan. With Sri Lanka, the team had played 26 matches,14 were won by the team and 14 were lost by them.

The players of South African team is wonderful. They had shown marvelous performances many times at different grounds. Dale Steyn took 433 wickets in 89 matches with an average of 22.64. Vernon Philander is the South African player who took 205 wickets in his test cricket career in 55 matches with an average of 21.54. After Vernon Kagiso Rabada is the South African player who most wickets in his career. He took 151 wickets in his test cricket career in 31 matches with an average of 21.21. Shaun Pollock took 421 wickets in his test career and Makhaya Ntini took 390 wickets in 101 matches.

South African the team is blessed with wonderful and talented players. Hashim Amla had scored 311 run at Oval in 2012 against England. After him, AB de Villiers is famous to have most scores against Pakistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in 2010/11 season of test cricket. He scored 278 runs in test career. Jacques Kallis made 45 times centuries in 168 matches with an average of 55.25 till 2013. Hashim Amla is the player who made 28 times hundred in his tests career in 119 matches with an average of 47.45. Dale Steyn took 433 wickets in 89 matches with an average of 22.64. After him, Shaun Pollock took 421 wickets in 108 matches with an average of 23.11. Makhaya  Ntini, Allan Donald, Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis are the players of the South African team who took most wickets in their test careers.

International Ban:

In 1970 the anti-apartheid the movement led the ICC to impose a ban on tours. Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Procter was banned due to ICC decision and they were not allowed to take part in international cricket.

1998 ICC Knockout Trophy:

The ICC Knock The trophy was held in Bangladesh. It was the one-day international cricket tournament. There were 9 participant teams in the tournament and 8 matches were played by the teams. South African team got the title of the winner team and Jacques Kallis became the player of the series. The South African team performed excellently in the tournament. In a pre-quarterfinal match. New Zealand defeated Zimbabwe and they qualify for the knockout stage. At Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka there was a quarterfinal match played between South Africa and England. South African team scored 283 runs and English scored 281 runs. New Zealand and Sri Lankan team played a match for the quarter-final. Sri Lankan team won the match. India, Australia, West Indies, and Pakistan also play for quarterfinal matches, But in Semi-final match only 4 teams qualify. South Africa, Srilanka, India and West Indies.On 1  November 1998 at Bangabandhu National Stadium the final match was played between South Africa and West Indies. West Indies team scored 245 in 49.3 overs and South African team scored 248 in 47 overs. South Africa won the final by 4 wickets and Jacques Kallis was declared as player of the match. The West Indies player Philo Wallace was declared as leading run scorer of the tournament and he scored 221 runs.

World Cups Records:

In past South Africa failed to get any big achievement in any tournament. In 1992 World Cup South African team only needed 22 runs from 13 balls to win the match but unfortunately, the rain affects their performance, because of the delay in a match they were left in the situation of requiring 22 runs from one ball to achieve the target. In the quarter-finals of the 1996 World Cup, they were eliminated because of poor performance in previous matches. Unfortunately, they lost in 1999 tournament in the semi-final against Australia. As a result, the match was ended in a tie. Both the team scored 213 runs but Australian performance was more good than South Africa in previous matches. So the Australian team qualifies for the Final.

In 2003 South Africa hosted the World Cup but they failed to get any achievement due to a misunderstanding of runs chasing. After the failure in 2003 World Cup their captain Shaun Pollock resigned from captaincy. In 2004 they only won the match against West Indies. In 2007 World Cup they played a match against Netherland at Warner Pak Stadium and won the match by 221 runs. The second match of the South African team was with Scotland and they again won the match against Scotland. by 7 wickets. On 24 March the South African team played a match against Australia and Australia won the match by 83 runs. At a knockout stage, South Africa played a match against Australia and they failed to win the match. So the South African team lost to play in 2007 World Cup.

 In 2011 World Cup South African team played a match with West Indies in group B.West Indies scored 222 runs in 47.3 overs and South Africa scored 223 in 42.5 overs. They won the match by wickets. Their second match was with the Netherlands and they won the match by 231 runs. On 6 March they played the match with England. England won the match by 5 runs. On 15 March South African team played a match with Ireland. South African team won the match by 131 runs. South African played their last match against Bangladesh and won by 206 runs. In the Knockout stage of quarterfinals, South African team played a match against New Zealand. They lost the match by 49 runs and became out of the tournament. The 2011 World Cup was won by India against Sri Lanka by 6 wickets.

In 2015 World Cup South Africa was in Pool B.The team played their first match against Zimbabwe and won by 62 runs. On 22 February the team played their second match against India and lost their match by 130 runs. South African team played two more matches against West Indies and Ireland and they won on both matches. Pakistan played a match with South Africa and won the match by 29 runs. The last match played by South Africa was against UAE and won by 146 runs.

In Quarterfinals and Semifinals, the South African played matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The quarter final match was won by South Africa and in Semi-finals South African team lost the match and became out of the tournament. The fans of South African team were emotional and disappointed at the time of their failure in semi-finals of 2015 World Cup. But at the same time, the fans of cricket were appreciated their effort to qualify for semi-finals, as they won their first Knockout match in the World cup Quarterfinal against the strong team Sri Lanka. The effort of the South African team let them dominate One Day International cricket and they became at No.1 in the ICC ODI Championship. The South African team has the honor to have the record of the highest successful run chase and made the highest total in One Day International against Australia on 12 March 2006. The South African team scored 438-9 in 49.5 overs again Australia. The match is considered as one of the wonderful One-Day International ever played in ODI history.