The South Africa national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa(CSA). South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) status. Its nickname derives from South Africa's national flower, Protea cynaroides, commonly known as the "King Protea".
Hedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and 144 wickets in 40 Tests at an average of 24.37. Named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1932, he is regarded as one of the most effective slow left-arm bowlers to have played cricket. Never someone who spun the ball sharply, he achieved success through the accuracy of his bowling. On pitches which made batting difficult, particularly ones affected by rain, he could be almost impossible to bat against.
Colin Blythe, also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1904 and took more than 2,500 first-class wickets over the course of his career, one of only 13 men to have done so.
Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches. He holds the world records both for the most appearances made in first-class cricket, and for the most wickets taken (4,204). He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match.
The Australian cricket team in England in 1948 is famous for being the only Test match side to play an entire tour of England without losing a match. This feat earned them the nickname of "The Invincibles", and they are regarded as one of the greatest cricket teams of all time. According to the Australian federal government, the team "is one of Australia's most cherished sporting legends". The team was captained by Don Bradman, who was making his fourth and final tour of England.
The 1912 Triangular Tournament was a Test cricket competition played between Australia, England and South Africa, the only Test-playing nations at the time.
George Aubrey Faulkner was a South African cricketer who played 25 Test matches for South Africa and fought in both the Second Boer War and World War I. In cricket, he was an all-rounder who was among the best batsmen in the world at his peak and was one of the first leg spin bowlers to use the googly.
Albert Edward Ernest Vogler was a South African cricketer. A leading all-rounder skilled both at batting and bowling, Vogler played cricket in South Africa prior to becoming eligible to play for Middlesex County Cricket Club in England after serving on the ground staff of the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's. He rose to prominence during the 1906 home Test series and then in England the following year: he was described during the latter as the best bowler in the world by Tip Foster, and named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Sidney James Pegler was a South African cricketer. He emerged following the decline of their googly bowlers Vogler and Schwarz in the early 1910s.
Norman Bertram Fleetwood "Tufty" Mann was a South African cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1947 to 1951.
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.
1907 was the 18th season of County Championship cricket in England. Nottinghamshire won their first official title. England played their sixth Test series against South Africa but it was the first to be held in England.
The Australia national cricket team toured South Africa from February to April 1994 and played a three-match Test series against the South Africa national cricket team. The tour was Australia's first to South Africa since the end of the apartheid regime which had led to a sporting boycott of the country. Australia's most recent tour to South Africa had taken place in 1969–70 and a planned tour of the country in 1971–72 had been cancelled after the International Cricket Conference had imposed a moratorium on tours in 1970 and following the player withdrawals and protests which accompanied the tour of Australia by the South African rugby union side during 1971. The Australian Cricket Board postponed their proposed tour of Sri Lanka in order to schedule the series, paying A$50,000 compensation to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka.
The Pakistani cricket team toured England in the 1954 season. The team played four Test matches against England, winning one, losing one and drawing two. These were the first Test matches played between the two sides. In winning the fourth and final Test, Pakistan became the first side to win a Test on its inaugural tour of England.
The South African cricket team toured England in the 1955 season to play a five-match Test series against England. England won the series 3–2 with no matches drawn.
The England cricket team toured South Africa in the 1956–57 season. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and the side played five Test matches as "England" and 15 other first-class matches as "MCC". Two of the first-class matches took place in Rhodesia in what is now Zimbabwe.
The English cricket team in the West Indies in 1934–35 was a cricket touring party sent to the West Indies under the auspices of the Marylebone Cricket Club for a tour lasting 2+1⁄2 months in 1934–35. The team played four Test matches against the West Indian cricket team, winning one match but losing two – the first series defeat of an English side by the West Indies.
The England cricket team toured South Africa under the auspices of the Marylebone Cricket Club from December 1905 to March 1906. There were five Test matches, and seven first-class games against South African provincial teams. While the team won a number of their first-class matches, they also lost several, and South Africa won the Test series 4 to 1.
The South African national cricket team toured Zimbabwe in November 1999 and played a single Test match against the Zimbabwean national cricket team. The tour took place immediately after Zimbabwe had visited South Africa to play their first Test match in the country with only a fortnight separating the matches. South Africa had previously played one Test match in Zimbabwe in 1995 and had visited the country to play a single One Day International in 1992 soon after the end of the apartheid era sporting boycott of South Africa, although sides from Zimbabwe and Rhodesia had previously played in South African domestic cricket competitions, including during the apartheid era.
Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet was an English cricketer best known for inventing the googly, a delivery designed to deceive the batsman. When bowled, it appears to be a leg break, but after pitching the ball turns in the opposite direction to that which is expected, behaving as an off break instead. Bosanquet, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex between 1898 and 1919, appeared in seven Test matches for England as an all-rounder. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1905.
