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". South Africa are the current World Test Champions.

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.The Commonwealth Games Experience by Shaun Pollock ESPN Cricinfo South Africa won the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship, beating Australia by 5 wickets in the final.

History Beginnings and early developments

European colonisation of southern Africa began on Tuesday, 6 April 1652 when the Dutch East India Company established a settlement called the Cape Colony on Table Bay, near present-day Cape Town, and continued to expand into the hinterland through the 17th and 18th centuries. It was founded as a victualling station for the Dutch East Indies trade route but soon acquired an importance of its own due to its good farmland and mineral wealth. There was virtually no British interest in South Africa until 1795 when troops under General Sir James Henry Craig seized Cape Colony during the French Revolutionary War, the Netherlands having been occupied by French forces the same year. After the British seized Cape Colony a second time in 1806 to counteract French interests in the region in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, Cape Colony was turned into a permanent British settlement. As in most other parts of the world, British colonisation brought in its wake the introduction of the game of cricket, which began to develop rapidly. The first-ever recorded cricket match in South Africa took place in 1808, in Cape Town between two service teams for a prize of one thousand rix-dollars.History of South African sport – Cricket BleacherReport. 9 November 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2017.

The oldest cricket club in South Africa is the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, founded in 1843. In 1862, an annual fixture "Mother Country v Colonial Born" was staged for the first time in Cape Town. By the late 1840s, the game had spread from its early roots in Cape Colony and permeated the Afrikaners in the territories of Orange Free State and Transvaal, who were descendants of the original Dutch settlers and were not considered naturally a cricket-playing people. In 1876, Port Elizabeth presented the "Champion Bat" for competition between South African towns. The first tournament was staged in Port Elizabeth. King William's Town Cricket Club won the tournament in 1876 and the following year, in 1877, too.

In 1888, Sir Donald Currie sponsored the first English team to tour South Africa. It was managed by Major R. G. Warton and captained by future Hollywood actor C. Aubrey Smith. The tour marked the advent, retrospectively, of both first-class and Test cricket in South Africa. Currie donated the Currie Cup (originally called the Kimberley Cup) that became the trophy, first won by Transvaal in 1889–90, for a national championship of the provincial teams in South Africa.

Early Test history In 1889, South Africa became the third test-playing nation when it played against England at Port Elizabeth South Africa's debut Test match 1889 scorecard ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 17 June 2017. captained by Owen Robert Dunell. Soon after, a 2nd test was played at Cape Town. However, these two matches, as was the case with all early matches involving the erstwhile 'South African XI' against all touring teams, did not receive the status of official 'Test' matches until South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference with England and Australia in 1906. Neither did the touring English team organised by Major Warton even claim to be representing the English cricket team; the matches were marketed as 'Major Warton's XI' v/s 'South African XI' instead. Even the players who participated did not know that they had played international cricket, and the side that played South Africa was regarded to be of weak county strength. The team was captained by C. Aubrey Smith, a decent medium pacer from Sussex, and for two of the Major Warton's XI, Basil Grieve and The Honourable Charles Coventry, the two Tests constituted their entire first-class career. Even so, the nascent, fledgling 'South African XI' was very weak, losing both tests comfortably to England, English spinner Johnny Briggs claiming 15–28 in the second Test at Cape Town.The ignorant internationals Martin Williamson, ESPNcricinfo. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2011. However, Albert Rose-Innes did make history by becoming the first South African bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Tests at Port Elizabeth.

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,South Africa beat England in a thriller to achieve their maiden Test win Cricket Country. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2017. 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,England vs South Africa 1st Test 1895–96 Scorecard CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 June 2016. an innings and 197 runs,England vs South Africa 2nd Test 1895–96 Scorecard CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 June 2017. and by an innings and 32 runsEngland vs South Africa 3rd Test 1895–96 Scorecard CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 June 2017 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.

Emergence as a quality international team

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.Aubrey Faulkner: The first of the great South African all-rounders Cricket Country. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2017.

The Australian cricket team toured South Africa in 1902, with an extremely strong squad comprising many prominent members of 'The Golden Age of Australian Cricket' such as Victor Trumper, Joe Darling, Clem Hill, Syd Gregory, Monty Noble, Reggie Duff, Warwick Armstrong, Hugh Trumble, and Ernie Jones. Though South Africa lost the 3-match Test series 2–0, they avoided defeat for the first time by drawing the first game at Johannesburg, even forcing the touring side to follow on thanks to some outstanding all-round performances from Llewellyn.

In 1904, South Africa was invited by the Marylebone Cricket Club for a tour of England to play a series of first-class matches, the team not being regarded as sufficiently high standard to play-official Tests. The side won ten out of their twenty-two matches, including a thrilling tie with Middlesex, who finished among the top four in that year's County Championship, due to some magic weaved by Schwarz through his googlies. He repeated his heroics against an all-England XI, whom South Africa recorded an upset victory against by 189 runs. Unfortunately, the match was not accorded official Test status.

In 1906, England made a reciprocal tour to South Africa, which this time consisted of a 5-match official Test series. The touring English team was a second-string team, with only Colin Blythe, Schofield Haigh and JN Crawford being those who could be considered regulars of the England team. Nevertheless, South Africa was still not favouriting going into the series. However, in a shocking result at Johannesburg, the inspired South Africans, led by Sherwell and their googly quartet, defeated England by 1 wicket, thereby recording her first Test win. Schwarz, Vogler, and Faulkner led the way for South Africa. Afterwards, South Africa defeated England by 9 wickets in the 2nd Test at Johannesburg, a 243-run win in the 3rd test at the same venue as well as an innings-and-16 runs victory at Cape Town in the 5th Test to secure a 4–1 domination of England. Schwarz picked up 18 in the series at 17.22, Faulkner 14 at 19.42. However, Vogler was not so successful with 9 wickets at 22.33. The series is widely recognised as the one which heralded the arrival of South Africa as a major force on the international cricket scene. The MCC duly complied by inviting the South African team to tour England in 1907 for the first time to play-official Tests. Though the series finished 1–0 to England with two draws, the quartet of Schwarz, Faulkner, Vogler, and White were praised for their exceptional quality of googly bowling, and Schwarz and Vogler came to be recognised as Wisden Cricketers of the Year the following year – the first South Africans to win the prestigious award.