Western Province Currie Cup
Sir Donald Currie, the founder of the Castle Shipping Line and the sponsor of the 1889 English tour, donated a trophy for the champions of the promising domestic competition. The 'Currie Cup' was first awarded to Kimberley, who had beaten Transvaal in the single match competition of 1889–90. From 1892 to 1893, the competition began to take the familiar form of province-based competition in a champion format, inspired by the English County Cricket structure.
Western Province joined the competition for the 1892–93 season, winning the Cup on its first attempt. The Currie Cup was not contested every year, and a total of fourteen seasons were contested between its inception and the First World War. Aside from an interruption during the Boer War, typically seasons were not held when the English team were touring. The competition took on several different formats, including a knock-out structure, and a round-robin followed by a challenge final against the previous year's winner; but in 1906–07, a round-robin league format was established, which would be unchanged until 1982–83. Between 1892–93 and 1912–13, Western Province won the Cup five times, being particularly dominate in the 1890s.
In the interwar years, again the Currie Cup was not competed every year. Largely due to travel constraints, the Cup was not held in seasons when there was a Test tour of South Africa. Of the 12 seasons played, Western Province won two in an era of Transvaal dominance. First-class cricket was later suspended upon the outset of the Second World War in 1939 as South Africa declared war on Germany.
Western Province won a further eight Cups between 1946 and 1991 in sporadic fashion, with the team failing to win the title at any point in the 1960s. At the end of the 1965–66 season, Western Province were relegated to the Second Division for the first time since the two division format was introduced in 1951. They would later be promoted back to the First Division for the 1969–70 season, going on to share the title with Transvaal. From 1972, the two division format was retained but promotion and relegation scrapped, with the top division remaining constant with five teams: Transvaal, Natal, Eastern Province, Western Province and Rhodesia. By this time the stronger provinces had begun fielding a 'B Team' in the lower division, although could not be promoted. From 1975, Western Province fielded a 'B Team' of their own, however the lower division eventually split away to form the 'Castle Bowl' – in essence a separate Currie Cup Second XI Competition.
The dominance of the Transvaal, Natal and Western Province finally came to a close after Eastern Province beat Transvaal at the end of the 1988–89 season. Prior to, the three teams had amongst them won 59 of the 60 Currie Cups contested, with the exception being Kimberley's win in 1890–91.
Western Province was largely immune to the political changes after 1994 that altered the domestic structure. Whereas many teams changed name, for instance Transvaal to Gauteng in 1997, Western Province continued until the Franchise Era of 2004–2021.
During this time, one-day cricket was included in the domestic structure, with its matches having List-A status. Western Province won five one-day titles between 1981–82 and 2003–04, with three being back to back between 1985 and 1988.
Franchise era
In 2004–05, the format of South African domestic cricket was changed entirely. The eleven provincial teams were rationalised into six entirely professional new teams, for all three formats. Western Province merged with Boland to form the Cape Cobras, being based in Cape Town. With the Currie Cup now called SuperSport Series for commercial reasons, the six new franchises were intended to create a stronger top-tier sides with a second-tier semi-professional tournament based around the old provincial teams.
Playing 17 first-class seasons, the Cape Cobras were the second most successful team behind Titans with 4 outright titles. In the one-day series, Cape Cobras managed two outright and two shared wins, the most recent being 2013–2014. A T20 league had also been devised for the domestic structure within South Africa, with Cape Cobras securing two title wins by 2021–22.
Recent history
In 2020, domestic cricket in South Africa was restructured once more and the six former franchise teams were dropped. In its place was a return to the more traditional two-division league format, with a total of fifteen professional teams competing. For this, the previously semi-professional provincial cricket competition was absorbed, effectively forming the league's second division. Promotion and relegation between the two divisions, not seen since the start of the franchise era in 2004, will return after the 2023–24 season. From 2019, provinces and cricket unions submitted bids to CSA to make a case to be considered for the top division for the initial two seasons. The bidding process was overseen by the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEE) who took into account a range of criteria, such as cricketing and financial operations, women's and age-group development, transformation policies and stadium infrastructure. Eight teams make up the first division, with 16 contracted players each, and seven teams the second division, with 11 contracted players each, taking the total number of professional players to 205.
Many of the provinces elected to keep their previous franchise branding, even with a return to the more traditional province defined structure. Of the First Division, only Cape Cobras elected to return to their former name of Western Province.
