The ODI History of South Africa
South Africa joined the party late as far as One Day International cricket is concerned. The Proteas were absent from the first four World Cups, although they have gone on to play a major role in many of the subsequent tournaments.
Indeed, they made it to the knockout phase of the next three competitions, with South Africa appearing in the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup where they clashed with England after a successful time of things in Australia and New Zealand.
However, the South Africans were beaten by 19 runs and then lost in the quarter finals four years later. On that occasion, it was the West Indies who were able to produce the goods when claiming a 19-run victory although this was a nation that continued to prosper in the World Cup.
The 1999 tournament was held in England and was arguably the best in the history of the One Day International World Cup. There was a Super Six format in this competition, with South Africa finishing third in the standings, with Pakistan and Australia bossing the top two spots and New Zealand also going through.
Much was expected of South Africa in 2003 when the Proteas co-hosted the Cricket World Cup along with Zimbabwe and Kenya, although the team were unable to deliver under great expectation and were actually eliminated at the group stage.
In the 2007 World Cup, the Proteas were able to return to form and once again take their customary place at the semi-final stage, although they were comfortably beaten by nemesis Australia by a sum total of seven wickets. A quarter final appearance in 2011 was largely underwhelming.
At the 2015 World Cup, the Proteas finished second in their qualifying group and went through to the knockout stage of the competition. They then achieved a convincing win over Sri Lanka before their semi-final defeat against New Zealand was decided by the Duckworth Lewis method.
Who Holds the ODI Records for South Africa?
There are some legendary South Africa cricket players who have turned out for their country on a One Day International basis. Jacques Kallis was an outstanding batsman at Test Match and ODI level, with this consistent performer scoring an incredible 11,550 runs over 323 matches. It will be some time before this record set between 1996-2014 is beaten.
AB de Villiers managed to notch 9,427 runs to be second on the list, with the batsman having turned out over a thirteen year period between 2005 and 2018. Other players to have scored heavily during their One Day careers include Hashim Amla, Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith.
Bowling-wise, Shaun Pollock was a star performer in a South Africa ODI shirt for a long time. The fast bowler has been able to take 387 wickets in 294 matches between 1996-2008. Allan Donald is another well-known South Africa bowler who scored 272 wickets during a slightly earlier time period. After that comes comes Jacques Kallis who proved his all rounder status with 269 wickets.
