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South Africa
Cricket South Africa
Status Full Member
Test Captain Temba Bavuma
ODI Captain Aiden Markram
T20I Captain Aiden Markram
Test Ranking 5th
ODI Ranking 3rd
T20I Ranking 6th
Tests Played 464
Test Record Won 178 Lost 161 (125 Drawn)
First Test vs Flag of England England at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, 12-13 March 1889
Last Test vs Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton, 13-16 February 2024
ODIs Played 672
ODI Record Won 410 Lost 235 (6 Tie, 21 No Result)
First ODI vs Flag of India India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, 10 November 1991
Last ODI vs Flag of India India at Boland Park, Paarl, 21 December 2023
T20Is Played 173
T20I Record Won 96 Lost 73 (1 Tie, 3 No Result)
First T20I vs Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, 21 October 2005
Last T20I vs Flag of India India at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, 14 December 2023

The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.

History[]

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 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.

Statistics and Records[]

Playing Record
Format M W L T D/NR Inaugural Match
Test Matches 464 178 161 0 125 12 March 1889
One Day Internationals 672 410 235 6 21 10 November 1991
Twenty20 Internationals 173 96 73 1 3 21 October 2005

Test Matches[]

Team Records[]

Highest Team Total 682/6d Flag of England England Lord's, London 31 July-3 August 2003
Lowest Team Total 30 Flag of England England
Flag of England England
St George's Park, Port Elizabeth
Edgbaston, Birmingham
13-14 February 1896
14-17 June 1924
Highest Total Conceded 756/5d Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo 27-31 July 2006
Lowest Total Conceded 45 Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Newlands, Cape Town 2-4 January 2013

Most Career Runs[]

Player Runs Average Career Span
Jacques Kallis 13,206 55.25 1995-2013
Hashim Amla 9,282 46.64 2004-2019
Graeme Smith 9,253 48.70 2002-2014
AB de Villiers 8,765 50.66 2004-2018
Gary Kirsten 7,289 45.27 1993-2004

Most Career Wickets[]

Player Wickets Average Career Span
Dale Steyn 439 22.95 2004-2019
Shaun Pollock 421 23.11 1995-2008
Makhaya Ntini 390 28.82 1998-2009
Allan Donald 330 22.25 1992-2002
Morne Morkel 309 27.66 2006-2018

Highest Scores[]

Player Score Opponent Venue Date
Hashim Amla 311* Flag of England England The Oval, London 19-23 July 2012
AB de Villiers 278* Flag of Pakistan Pakistan Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi 20-24 November 2010
Graeme Smith 277 Flag of England England Edgbaston, Birmingham 24-28 July 2003
Daryll Cullinan 275* Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Eden Park, Auckland 27 February-3 March 1999
Gary Kirsten 275 Flag of England England Kingsmead, Durban 26-30 December 1999

Best Innings Bowling Figures[]

Player Figures Opponent Venue Date
Hugh Tayfield 9/113 Flag of England England Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 15-20 February 1957
Keshav Maharaj 9/129 Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo 20-23 July 2018
Godfrey Lawrence 8/53 Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 26-29 December 1961
Lance Klusener 8/64 Flag of India India Eden Gardens, Kolkata 27 November-1 December 1996
Hugh Tayfield 8/69 Flag of England England Kingsmead, Durban 25-30 January 1957

Best Match Bowling Figures[]

Player Figures Opponent Venue Date
Makhaya Ntini 13/132 Flag of West Indies West Indies Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain 8-12 April 2005
Kagiso Rabada 13/144 Flag of England England Centurion Park, Centurion 22-26 January 2016
Hugh Tayfield 13/165 Flag of Australia Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne 24-30 December 1952
Hugh Tayfield 13/192 Flag of England England Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 15-20 February 1957
Sibley Snooke 12/127 Flag of England England Old Wanderers, Johannesburg 10-14 March 1906

Win/Loss Record[]

Opponent M W L T D First Match First Win
Flag of Australia Australia 101 26 54 0 21 11 October 1902 13 January 1911
Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh 14 12 0 0 2 18 October 2002 21 October 2002
Flag of England England 156 35 66 0 55 12 March 1889 4 January 1906
Flag of India India 44 18 16 0 10 13 November 1992 29 December 1992
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 49 26 7 0 16 27 February 1932 1 March 1932
Flag of Pakistan Pakistan 28 15 6 0 7 19 January 1995 23 January 1995
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka 31 16 9 0 6 25 August 1993 10 September 1993
Flag of West Indies West Indies 32 22 3 0 7 18 April 1992 30 November 1998
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe 9 8 0 0 1 13 October 1995 16 October 1995

One Day Internationals[]

Team Records[]

Highest Team Total 439/2 Flag of West Indies West Indies Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 18 January 2015
Lowest Team Total 69 Flag of Australia Australia Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 14 December 1993
Highest Total Conceded 434/4 Flag of Australia Australia Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 12 March 2006
Lowest Total Conceded 43 Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka Boland Park, Paarl 11 January 2012

Most Career Runs[]

Player Runs Average Career Span
Jacques Kallis 11,550 45.11 1996-2014
AB de Villiers 9,427 54.17 2005-2018
Hashim Amla 8,113 49.46 2008-2019
Herschelle Gibbs 8,094 36.13 1996-2010
Graeme Smith 6,989 38.19 2002-2013

Most Career Wickets[]

Player Wickets Average Career Span
Shaun Pollock 387 24.31 1996-2008
Allan Donald 272 21.78 1991-2003
Jacques Kallis 269 31.85 1996-2014
Makhaya Ntini 265 24.53 1998-2009
Dale Steyn 194 26.00 2006-2019

Highest Scores[]

Player Score Opponent Venue Date
Gary Kirsten 188* Flag of United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 16 February 1996
Faf du Plessis 185 Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka Newlands, Cape Town 7 February 2017
Quinton de Kock 178 Flag of Australia Australia Centurion Park, Centurion 30 September 2016
Janneman Malan 177* Ireland flag Ireland Malahide Cricket Club Ground, Dublin 16 July 2021
AB de Villiers 176 Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh Boland Park, Paarl 18 October 2017

Best Bowling Figures[]

Player Figures Opponent Venue Date
Imran Tahir 7/45 Flag of West Indies West Indies Warner Park, Basseterre 15 June 2016
Kagiso Rabada 6/16 Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka 10 July 2015
Makhaya Ntini 6/22 Flag of Australia Australia Newlands, Cape Town 3 March 2006
Allan Donald 6/23 Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi 3 October 1996
Imran Tahir 6/24 Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein 3 October 2018

Win/Loss Record[]

Opponent M W L T NR First Match First Win
vs Full Members
Flag of Afghanistan.svg Afghanistan 2 2 0 0 0 15 June 2019 15 June 2019
Flag of Australia Australia 110 55 51 3 1 26 February 1992 26 February 1992
Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh 25 19 6 0 0 3 October 2002 3 October 2002
Flag of England England 70 34 30 1 5 12 March 1992 9 January 1996
Flag of India India 94 51 40 0 3 10 November 1991 14 November 1991
Ireland flag Ireland 8 6 1 0 1 3 April 2007 3 April 2007
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 72 42 25 0 5 29 February 1992 14 January 1994
Flag of Pakistan Pakistan 83 52 30 0 1 8 March 1992 8 March 1992
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka 81 46 33 1 1 2 March 1992 2 September 1993
Flag of West Indies West Indies 64 45 16 1 2 5 March 1992 5 March 1992
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe 41 38 2 0 1 10 March 1992 10 March 1992
vs Associate Members
Flag of Canada.svg Canada 1 1 0 0 0 27 February 2003 27 February 2003
Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya 10 10 0 0 0 3 October 1996 3 October 1996
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 8 6 1 0 1 5 March 1996 5 March 1996
Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 1 1 0 0 0 20 March 2007 20 March 2007
Flag of United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 2 2 0 0 0 16 February 1996 16 February 1996

Twenty20 Internationals[]

Team Records[]

Highest Team Total 259/4 Flag of West Indies West Indies Centurion Park, Centurion 26 March 2023
Lowest Team Total 87 Flag of India India Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot 17 June 2022
Highest Total Conceded 258/5 Flag of West Indies West Indies Centurion Park, Centurion 26 March 2023
Lowest Total Conceded 80 Flag of Afghanistan.svg Afghanistan Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 5 May 2010

Most Career Runs[]

Player Runs Average Career Span
Quinton de Kock 2,277 32.52 2012-2023
David Miller 2,227 34.26 2010-2023
JP Duminy 1,934 38.68 2007-2019
Reeza Hendricks 1,702 31.51 2014-2023
AB de Villiers 1,672 26.12 2006-2017

Most Career Wickets[]

Player Wickets Average Career Span
Tabraiz Shamsi 78 22.20 2017-2023
Dale Steyn 64 18.35 2007-2020
Imran Tahir 61 14.08 2013-2019
Lungi Ngidi 60 20.23 2017-2023
Wayne Parnell 59 25.64 2009-2023

Highest Scores[]

Player Score Opponent Venue Date
Faf du Plessis 119 Flag of West Indies West Indies Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg 11 January 2015
Richard Levi 117* Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Seddon Park, Hamilton 19 February 2012
Morne van Wyk 114* Flag of West Indies West Indies Kingsmead, Durban 14 January 2015
Rilee Rossouw 109 Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 27 October 2022
David Miller 106* Flag of India India Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati 2 October 2022

Best Bowling Figures[]

Player Figures Opponent Venue Date
Dwaine Pretorius 5/17 Flag of Pakistan Pakistan Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 13 February 2021
Ryan McLaren 5/19 Flag of West Indies West Indies Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound 19 May 2010
David Wiese 5/23 Flag of West Indies West Indies Kingsmead, Durban 14 January 2015
Imran Tahir 5/23 Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe Buffalo Park, East London 9 October 2018
Imran Tahir 5/24 Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Eden Park, Auckland 17 February 2017
Tabraiz Shamsi 5/24 Flag of England England The Rose Bowl, Southampton 31 July 2022

Win/Loss Record[]

Opponent M W L T NR First Match First Win
vs Full Members
Flag of Afghanistan.svg Afghanistan 2 2 0 0 0 5 May 2010 5 May 2010
Flag of Australia Australia 25 8 17 0 0 9 January 2006 24 February 2006
Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh 8 8 0 0 0 15 September 2007 15 September 2007
Flag of England England 25 12 12 0 1 16 September 2007 16 September 2007
Flag of India India 26 11 14 0 1 1 December 2006 16 June 2009
Ireland flag Ireland 5 5 0 0 0 19 July 2021 19 July 2021
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 15 11 4 0 0 21 October 2005 19 September 2007
Flag of Pakistan Pakistan 22 10 12 0 0 2 February 2007 2 February 2007
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka 17 11 5 1 0 22 September 2012 22 September 2012
Flag of West Indies West Indies 19 11 8 0 0 11 September 2007 11 September 2007
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe 6 5 0 0 1 8 October 2010 8 October 2010
vs Associate Members
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 2 1 1 0 0 27 March 2014 27 March 2014
Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 1 1 0 0 0 7 June 2009 7 June 2009
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