- The South African national cricket team, nicknamed the Proteas, represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.
South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status. Through the mid-nineties to the present, the Proteas have been labeled as the archetypal chokers in international cricket, especially due to their not winning a Cricket World Cup - even after being one of the favourites - as well as their general inability to win the big matches on the big occasions.[3][4] As of 11 November 2011, the South African team has played 359 Test matches, winning 126 (35.09%), losing 124 (34.54%) and drawing 109 (30.36%) of its games.[5] As of 11 November 2011, the South African team has played 462 ODI Matches, winning 288 (62.33%), losing 157 (33.98%), drawing 5 (1.08%) and getting a "No Result" in 12 (2.60%) of its games.[6] On 28th August 2012 South Africa became the first team to be number 1 in all 3 formats of the game
History[]
The South African cricket team toured England in 1947. At Nottingham, Captain Alan Melville and vice-captain, Dave Nourse achieved a Test match record for a third wicket partnership of 319. The following year Nourse, 38 year old captain of Natal, was appointed Captain for the 1948 MCC Test matches in South Africa.[7] 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 (England, Australia, New Zealand), and field only white players. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Procter from partaking in international Test Cricket. It would also cause the emigration of future stars like Allan Lamb and Robin Smith, who both played for England, and Kepler Wessels, who initially played for Australia, before returning to South Africa.
The South African team at The Oval in August 2008.
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. South Africa's first test match after re-admission was against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs.
Since South Africa have been reinstated they have achieved mixed success, and hosted the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in 2003. However, it is widely believed the sides containing the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Gary Kirsten and Hansie Cronje grossly underachieved, gaining a reputation as "chokers", due to them reaching the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup three times, but failing to progress into the finals, when Herschelle Gibbs dropped Australian captain Steve Waugh in 1999 in a Super Six match. In the second part of the 1990s, South Africa had the highest winning percentage in ODIs of any team, but they were knocked out of the 1996 World Cup in the quarter-finals, and then were eliminated on countback after tying their semi-final against Australia in 1999. In 2003, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the group stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed.