page_title: South Africa national cricket team
section_title: 21st century Proteas
hierarchical_section_title: South Africa national cricket team / History / 21st century Proteas
caption_attribution_description: English: The South African touring cricket team at The Oval, 4th Test, 7-11 August 2008 Front row: l. to r. Mkhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, Mickey Arthur [coach], Graeme Smith [captain], assistant coach , Mark Boucher, Neil McKenzie. 2nd row: Team manager, Albé Morkel, Thami Tsolekile, AB de Villiers, André Nel, Robin Peterson, Hashim Amla, sub, Niki Boje. Back row: Another, JP Duminy, Morné Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, another. Source:cricinfo
context_page_description: The South Africa national cricket team also known as Proteas represents South Africa in men's international cricket, is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 International status.
  South Africa entered first-class and international cricket at the same time when they hosted an England cricket team in the 1888–89 season. At first, the team was no match for Australia or England but, having gained in experience and expertise, they were able to field a competitive team in 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 and an international ban was imposed by the ICC, 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 had just outplayed Australia.
context_section_description: In the 2003 World Cup, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the group stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed. They have also had bad press for failing in vital matches in global tournaments including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
  With Donald retiring, Cronje banned for match-fixing and later killed in a plane crash, and Pollock also retiring from international cricket, the team once again changed shape. Graeme Smith was made captain, although following injuries to Smith and Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince deputised as Test captain on 12 July 2006. At the age of 29, he became the first non-white man to captain the once all-white South African cricket team. Although that racial quota policy, was rescinded in 2007, a new rule passed in 2016 stated that the team had to have an average minimum of six Black players, of which two must be Black African, in matches over the season.
  With the addition of high class players such as AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, the South African Cricket team started rising in the ICC rankings. After many of the major players in the Australian side that had dominated the early 2000s had retired, the number one place in the ICC Test Championship was a wide open race, with India and England having short stints as the number one side. South Africa toured England in 2012 for a three Test series with the winner assured of being the world No. 1. South Africa went on to take the series comfortably 2–0 and claim the top spot in the rankings, a position they retained for over a full calendar year from 20 August 2012. Eight days later, on 28 August 2012, South Africa became the first team to top the rankings in all three formats of the game.
  In February 2014 South Africa took on Australia in a Test series, with the winner being ranked No. 1 team in the world.  Australia won the series 2–1. South Africa later in the year would regain the No. 1 ranking.  As of 4 May 2020, South Africa are ranked 6th in Test Cricket.
  During this time of dominance in the Test arena, the ODI and T20I performances were far less consistent, as South Africa search for a winning formula ahead of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. A notable ODI series loss to New Zealand at home in January 2013, and a further loss in Sri Lanka highlighted South Africa's recent difficulties. Exits from the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy only served to improve South Africa's reputation as 'chokers' in major tournaments. In the latter years of Smith's career, South Africa split the captaincy in the shorter forms of the game, with the ODI side being led by AB de Villiers and the T20I side by Faf du Plessis. After Smith's retirement, Hashim Amla was appointed captain of the test side, leading his side to victory in his first test in charge, in Galle in Sri Lanka.
caption: The South African team at The Oval in August 2008.
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