The visit marked the beginning of both first-class and test cricket in South Africa. Currie donated the Currie Cup (formerly named the Kimberley Cup), which became the trophy for a national championship of South African provincial teams, first won by Transvaal in 1889-90. Before then, there had been no national championship because all the attention was on Lord's.
Transvaal played its first match on January 11, 1890, against a team from the British colony of Natal, now part of South Africa. The game was drawn, but Transvaal won the second match by an innings and 36 runs to claim the title. The following year, the two countries joined forces to face England, the leading team in world cricket at the time, in the First Test match at Newlands. This was the first international tournament or series that we know today as the World Cricket Championship. The English players took advantage of the weak South African team to win the match and the series easily.
After this defeat, several changes were made to improve the quality of play. These included reducing the number of matches per season from 18 to 12, and introducing the concept of unemployment (or "rest days") during which non-playing members of staff could be replaced. The new team was called the Diamond Fields Academy, after one of the former colonies that had joined together to form South Africa.
However, it immediately became clear that T20 had the ability to draw a new, lively, young audience to cricket. The inaugural T20 World Cup, held in South Africa in 2007, was won by India, resulting in a massive market for T20 on the subcontinent that the IPL swiftly exploited.
The first tournament took place in South Africa and was won by India. The main event of the tournametu is the 20-over game, with the addition of some limited-overs matches. The idea is to have as many games as possible during the day so people can watch them live on television or online. The winner is the team that scores most runs or takes most wickets within the stipulated time frame. There are two ways to score runs: by hitting the ball with a bat or scooping it with a glove. A six is scored when a player throws the ball into the stands after hitting a shot; a four is scored when a player throws the ball onto the field after hitting a shot.
T20 is a very fast sport that uses a lot of power and requires good skills to be played properly. It is played on a field that is restricted by a boundary line which is made of grass or dirt. There are six other players on the field besides the bowler and batsman; they are called "fielders" because they play defense against any balls not hit straight at the batsman.
From October 1961 to February 1962, the New Zealand cricket team toured South Africa and played a five-match Test series against the South African national cricket team. The series ended 2-2. The third Test victory for New Zealand was the team's first outside of New Zealand. This was also the first time two teams other than England had won Tests in Australia.
South Africa had been barred from international cricket since 1950, but they made a comeback in 1961. In that year's edition of the World Cup, they reached the final, where they were defeated by India. However, in the semi-final they beat England, thus becoming the first country to qualify for all four major international tournaments (World Cups, Champions Trophies, World Series Cricket and Indian Premier League).
The New Zealand team was captained by Lindsay Martin, who was playing his second series in South Africa after appearing as player-manager in 1960. He was followed by Colin Meads, who took over the role for the last three matches of the series. Other notable players on the team were George Headley, who made his debut in this series, and Roy Marshall, who became the first New Zealander to score a century on Test debut.
This was the first series played by New Zealand outside of New Zealand, and it proved to be very successful for them. They won the three remaining matches easily, with one match ending in a draw.
In 1891, the South African squad played the second test against the British Isles. Diocesan College hosted the inaugural British Isles trip in 1891. These were South African teams' first representative games. The visitors won all twenty of their games, giving only one point. This was also the first time that England played a Test match.
The South Africans traveled to London to face England at The Oval on 27 August 1891. The game ended in a draw with both sides scoring one goal each. This was followed by three more matches on the British tour - two against local XIs and one against Wales. The final match on the tour was the first Test match between England and Wales. Played at Cardiff Arms Park, it ended in a victory for England who won by four goals to zero. This is now regarded as an official test match by the International Cricket Council (ICC) which started conducting tests in 1877-78.
England returned to South Africa for a five-match series from 21 February to 5 March 1892. The first two matches were played in Cape Town while the remaining three games were held in Johannesburg. The series was drawn 2-2.
Six years later, in 1898, England again toured South Africa where they played four matches. Three of them were limited overs fixtures and one was a traditional test match.
South African champions! Provincial Cup Winners and Champions National Winners (since 1959) Provincial Cup Winners and Champions It should be noted that until the end of the Boer Wars in 1902, Oranje Vrijstaat (Orange Free State) and Transvaal were separate states. They each had their own provincial champions who met in the annual Provincial Cups. After the wars ended, the two provinces joined together to form the Union of South Africa. In 1908, a new national championship was created for them. Known as the Currie Cup, it is still played today by all four professional rugby teams in the country.
The first official national title was won by Western Province in 1959. Before then, they just went by the name of the Orange Free State. The original Currie Cup was not given out every year. Instead, the winner was decided over several years by popular vote. In 1963, the current format was adopted where now there is a final match every year between the winners of the North and the South sections of the country.
North Section - Northern Cape, Denbigh, Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Areas/Boland, Oshikoto, Western Cape South Section - Western Cape Only one team from this section has ever been crowned national champion - Western Province in 1959 and 1960.
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