South Africa vs Australia
The Proteas: South Africa's national cricket team.
The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. The team's nickname derives from South Africa's national flower, Protea cynaroides, commonly known as the 'King Protea'. Australia are the current World Test Champions.
Quick Facts
- First official series post-ban
- 1991-92
- Key era
- Post-Apartheid Resumption to Present
- Defining format
- Test Matches and One-Day Internationals
- Notable venue context
- Series played in both nations with high travel stakes
- Status
- Active Rivalry
Lore & Background
South Africa entered first-class and international cricket at the same time when they hosted an England cricket team in the 1888–89 season. Initially, the team was no match for Australia or England but, having gained experience and expertise, they were able to field a competitive team by the first decade of the 20th century. The team regularly played against Australia, England and New Zealand through to the 1960s, by which time there was considerable opposition to the country's apartheid policy. The ICC imposed an international ban on the team, commensurate with actions taken by other global sporting bodies. When the ban was imposed, South Africa had developed to a point where its team was arguably the best in the world, and even out-played Australia. The ban remained in place until 1991, after which South Africa played against India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies for the first time. The team has been strong since its reinstatement, and has at several times held the number-one positions in international rankings. South Africa is also one of the most successful teams in ODI cricket, winning more than 60 per cent of their matches. However, the 1998 Champions Trophy was its first success in ICC-organised limited-overs tournaments. South Africa won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1998. Australia won the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship, beating South Africa by 5 wickets in the final.
Reader's Guide
South Africa's early Test record remains the worst among all current Test-playing nations with ten defeats and just a solitary draw from their first eleven tests, and it was not until 1904 that they began to emerge as a quality international team. They recorded their first Test win against England in 1906, which took them 17 years. The low point of this barren early period for the South African team was an English tour of 1895–96, where South Africa was humiliated 3–0 in 3 Tests by an English side for the first time remotely comparable to a full-strength team, losing all the tests by 288 runs, an innings and 197 runs, and by an innings and 32 runs respectively. The touring English team, arranged by Lord Hawke, included four of the best cricketers of the world at the time: Tom Hayward, C.B. Fry, George Lohmann and Sammy Woods. In the early 1900s, the first world-class South African cricket team emerged, comprising stars such Bonnor Middleton, Jimmy Sinclair, Charlie Llewellyn, Dave Nourse, Louis Tancred, Aubrey Faulkner, Reggie Schwarz, Percy Sherwell, Tip Snooke, Bert Vogler, and Gordon White, players who were capable of giving any international teams a run for their money. In addition to possessing batsmen such as Sinclair (the batsman with the highest strike rate in Test history), Nourse, Tancred, all-rounder Faulkner, Sherwell, Snooker, and White, the South Africans developed the world's first (and arguably greatest) spin attack which specialised in googly. Greatest among the South African googly quartet was Schwarz, who, inspired by English googly bowler Bernard Bosanquet, regarded as the inventor of the googly, developed into the most devastating googly bowler of his time. He taught diligently the secrets of the googly to allrounder Faulkner, medium-pacer Vogler, and specialist batsman White, and together the four formed a quartet which began to lead South Africa to unprecedented heights in Test cricket. Another important force during this period for South Africa was the all-around performances of Faulkner and Llewellyn. Faulkner came to be regarded as the first great South African all-rounders in the international game, regarded by some as even the greatest all-rounder in the world in the pre-1st World War period.
More in Great Rivalries & Feuds
Elsewhere in Australia National Cricket Team
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced