List of South Africa national cricket captains

South Africa played its first Test match in cricket in 1889 against England at Port Elizabeth, becoming the third Test nation after England and Australia. This is a list of the men and women who have been the official South African captains in Tests.

South Africa was a founder member of the International Cricket Council in 1909. However, the South African team did not play official Test cricket from 1970 to 1991, having been suspended from membership the ICC as a result of controversy over apartheid (most particularly the reaction to the Basil d'Oliveira affair). There were a number of rebel tours to South Africa in the intervening period, but none of the matches are recognised as official Test matches and they are not include here. South Africa rejoined the ICC, and resumed playing official Test cricket, in 1991.

Men's Cricket

Test match captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African cricket team for at least one Test match. The table of results is complete to the second Test against Sri Lanka in 2006. The next Test is scheduled to be played against India on 15 December 2006. Where a player has a dagger (†) next to a Test match series in which he captained at least one Test, that denotes that player deputised for the appointed captain or were appointed by the home authority for a minor proportion in a series. The dagger classification follows that adopted by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

South African Test match captains
Number	Name	Year	Report	Opposition	Location	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
1	Owen Dunell	1888–89	Report	England	South Africa	1	0	1	0
2	William Milton	1888–89	Report	England	South Africa	1	0	1	0
		1891–92	Report	England	South Africa	1	0	1	0
		Total				2	0	2	0
3	Ernest Halliwell	1895–96	Report	England	South Africa	2	0	2	0
		1902–03	Report	Australia	South Africa	1	0	1	0
		Total				3	0	3	0
4	Alfred Richards	1895–96†	Report	England	South Africa	1	0	1	0
5	Murray Bissett	1898–99	Report	England	South Africa	2	0	2	0
6	Henry Taberer	1902–03	Report	Australia	South Africa	1	0	0	1
7	John Anderson	1902–03	Report	Australia	South Africa	1	0	1	0
8	Percy Sherwell	1905–06	Report	England	South Africa	5	4	1	0
		1907	Report	England	England	3	0	1	2
		1910–11	Report	Australia	Australia	5	1	4	0
		Total				13	5	6	2
9	Tip Snooke	1909–10	Report	England	South Africa	5	3	2	0
10	Frank Mitchell	1912	Report	Australia	England	2	0	2	0
		1912	Report	England	England	1	0	1	0
		Total				3	0	3	0
11	Louis Tancred	1912	Report	England	England	2	0	2	0
		1912	Report	Australia	England	1	0	0	1
		Total				3	0	2	1
12	Herbie Taylor	1913–14	Report	England	South Africa	5	0	4	1
		1921–22		Australia	South Africa	3	0	1	2
		1922–23		England	South Africa	5	1	2	2
		1924		England	England	5	0	3	2
		Total				18	1	10	7
13	Nummy Deane	1927–28		England	South Africa	5	2	2	1
		1929		England	England	5	0	2	3
		1930–31		England	South Africa	2	0	2	0
		Total				12	2	4	6
14	Buster Nupen	1930–31†		England	South Africa	1	1	0	0
15	Jock Cameron	1930–31		England	South Africa	2	0	0	2
		1931–32		Australia	Australia	5	0	5	0
		1931–32		New Zealand	New Zealand	2	2	0	0
		Total				9	2	5	2
16	Herbie Wade	1935		England	England	5	1	0	4
		1935–36		Australia	South Africa	5	0	4	1
		Total				10	1	4	5
17	Alan Melville	1938–39		England	South Africa	5	0	1	4
		1947		England	England	5	0	3	2
		Total				10	0	4	6
18	Dudley Nourse	1948–49		England	South Africa	5	0	2	3
		1949–50		Australia	South Africa	5	0	4	1
		1951		England	England	5	1	3	1
		Total				15	1	9	5
19	Jack Cheetham	1952–53		Australia	Australia	5	2	2	1
		1952–53		New Zealand	New Zealand	2	1	0	1
		1953–54		New Zealand	South Africa	5	4	0	1
		1955		England	England	3	0	3	0
		Total				15	7	5	'3
20	Jackie McGlew	1955†		England	England	2	2	0	0
		1956–57†		England	South Africa	1	0	1	0
		1957–58†		Australia	South Africa	1	0	0	1
		1960		England	England	5	0	3	2
		1961–62		New Zealand	South Africa	5	2	2	1
		Total				14	4	6	4
21	Clive van Ryneveld	1956–57		England	South Africa	4	2	1	1
		1957–58		Australia	South Africa	4	0	3	1
		Total				8	2	4	2
22	Trevor Goddard	1963–64		Australia	Australia	5	1	1	3
		1963–64		New Zealand	New Zealand	3	0	0	3
		1964–65		England	South Africa	5	0	1	4
		Total				13	1	2	10
23	Peter van der Merwe	1965		England	England	3	1	0	2
		1966–67		Australia	South Africa	5	3	1	1
		Total				8	4	1	3
24	Ali Bacher	1969–70		Australia	South Africa	4	4	0	0
25	Kepler Wessels	1991–92		West Indies	West Indies	1	0	1	0
		1992–93		India	South Africa	4	1	0	3
		1993–94		Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	3	1	0	2
		1993–94		Australia	Australia	2	1	0	1
		1993–94		Australia	South Africa	3	1	1	1
		1994		England	England	3	1	1	1
		Total				16	5	3	8
26	Hansie Cronje	1993–94†		Australia	Australia	1	0	1	0
		1994–95		New Zealand	South Africa	3	2	1	0
		1994–95		Pakistan	South Africa	1	1	0	0
		1994–95		New Zealand	New Zealand	1	1	0	0
		1995–96		Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0
		1995–96		England	South Africa	5	1	0	4
		1996–97		India	India	3	1	2	0
		1996–97		India	South Africa	3	2	0	1
		1996–97		Australia	South Africa	3	1	2	0
		1997–98		Pakistan	Pakistan	3	1	0	2
		1997–98		Australia	Australia	3	0	1	2
		1997–98		Pakistan	South Africa	2	1	1	0
		1997–98		Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	2	1	0	1
		1998		England	England	5	1	2	2
		1998–99		West Indies	South Africa	5	5	0	0
		1998–99		New Zealand	New Zealand	3	1	0	2
		1999–2000		Zimbabwe	South Africa	1	1	0	0
		1999–2000		Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0
		1999–2000		England	South Africa	5	2	1	2
		1999–2000		India	India	2	2	0	0
		Total				53	26	11	16
27	Gary Kirsten	1997-98†		Pakistan	South Africa	1	0	0	1
28	Shaun Pollock	2000–01		Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	3	1	1	1
		2000–01		New Zealand	South Africa	3	2	0	1
		2000–01		Sri Lanka	South Africa	3	2	0	1
		2000–01		West Indies	West Indies	5	2	1	2
		2001–02		Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe	2	1	0	1
		2001–02		India	South Africa	2	1	0	1
		2001–02		Australia	Australia	3	0	3	0
		2002–03		Bangladesh	South Africa	1	1	0	0
		2002–03		Sri Lanka	South Africa	2	2	0	0
		2002–03		Pakistan	South Africa	2	2	0	0
		Total				26	14	5	7
29	Mark Boucher	2001–02		Australia	South Africa	3	1	2	0
		2002–03†		Bangladesh	South Africa	1	1	0	0
		Total				4	2	2	0
30	Graeme Smith	2003		Bangladesh	Bangladesh	2	2	0	0
		2003		England	England	5	2	2	1
		2003–04		Pakistan	Pakistan	2	0	1	1
		2003–04		West Indies	South Africa	4	3	0	1
		2003–04		New Zealand	New Zealand	3	1	1	1
		2004		Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	2	0	1	1
		2004–05		India	India	2	0	1	1
		2004–05		England	South Africa	5	1	2	2
		2004–05		Zimbabwe	South Africa	2	2	0	0
		2004–05		West Indies	West Indies	4	2	0	2
		2005–06	Report	Australia	Australia	3	0	2	1
		2005–06	Report	Australia	South Africa	2	0	2	0
		2005–06	Report	New Zealand	South Africa	3	2	0	1
		2006-07		India	South Africa	3	2	1	0
		2006-07		Pakistan	South Africa	3	2	1	0
		Total				45	19	14	12
31	Jacques Kallis	2005–06†	Report	Australia	South Africa	1	0	1	0
32	Ashwell Prince	2006	Report	Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	2	0	2	0
Grand total						317	103	114	100

ODI captains

This is a complete list of every man who has captained South Africa in at least one one-day international. It is complete up to the final ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare on August 26, 2007. The next ODI is scheduled to be played against Pakistan on October 18, 2007 at Lahore.

South African ODI captains
Number	Name	Years	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	No result	% won
1	Clive Rice	1991	3	1	2	0	0	33
2	Kepler Wessels	1992-94	52	20	30	0	2	39
3	Hansie Cronje	1994-2000	138	99	35	1	3	72
4	Shaun Pollock	2000-05	92	59	29	3	1	64
5	Graeme Smith	2003-07	94	53	35	1	5	56
6	Mark Boucher†	2003	1	1	0	0	0	100
7	Nicky Boje†	2005	1	1	0	0	0	100
8	Jacques Kallis	2007	3	3	0	0	0	100
Grand total			388	239	133	5	11	62

Twenty20 International captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South Africa cricket team for at least one Twenty20 International. It is complete up to the T20I against India in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 on September 20, 2007. The next T20I is scheduled to be played against New Zealand on November 23, 2007 at Johannesburg.

South Africa Twenty20 International captains
Number	Name	Period of captaincy	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	No result	% won
1	Graeme Smith	2005/6 - 2007/8	10	6	4	0	0	60
Grand total			10	6	4	0	0	60

Youth cricket

Test match captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African Under-19 cricket team for at least one under-19 Test match. The table of results is complete to the third Test in England in 2003. Where a player has a dagger (†) next to a Test match series in which he captained at least one Test, that denotes that player was captain for a minor proportion in a series.

South African Under-19 Test match captains
Number	Name	Year	Opposition	Location	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
1	Neil McKenzie	1995	England	England	3	0	2	1
2	Douglas Gain	1995–96	India	India	3	1	1	1
3	Philip Hearle	1996–97	Pakistan	South Africa	3	0	2	1
4	Matthew Street	1997–98	England	South Africa	2	0	0	2
5	Thami Tsolekile	1998–99	Pakistan	Pakistan	3	0	1	2
6	Rivash Gobind	2000–01	New Zealand	New Zealand	3	0	2	1
7	Imraan Khan	2003	England	England	3	2	0	1
Grand total					16	3	8	7

Youth One-day International captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African Under-19 cricket team for at least one Under-19 one-day international. The table of results is complete up to the ODI against Bangladesh in 2005-06 in the Afro-Asian Cup.

South African Under-19 ODI captains
Number	Name	Year	Played	Won	Lost	No result
1	Neil McKenzie	1995	2	0	2	0
2	Douglas Gain	1996	3	0	3	0
3	Philip Hearle	1997	3	2	1	0
4	Matthew Street	1998	8	7	1	0
5	Thami Tsolekile	1999-2000	9	5	3	1
6	Johan Botha	2001	2	0	1	1
7	Rivash Gobind	2001	1	1	0	0
8	Hashim Amla	2002	8	5	3	0
9	Imraan Khan	2003	2	1	0	1
10	Divan van Wyk	2004	6	3	3	0
11	Dean Elgar	2005	5	1	4	0
Grand total			49	25	21	3

Women's cricket

Test match captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African women's cricket team for at least one women's Test match. Where a player has a dagger (†) next to a Test match series in which she captained at least one Test, that denotes that player was captain for a minor proportion in a series.

South African women's Test captains
Number	Name	Season	Opposition	Location	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
1	Sheila Nefdt	1960–61	England	South Africa	4	0	1	3
2	Maureen Payne	1971–72	New Zealand	South Africa	2	0	1	0
3	Carole Gildenhuys	1971–72†	New Zealand	South Africa	1	0	0	1
4	Cindy Eksteen	2001–02	India	South Africa	1	0	1	0
5	Alison Hodgkinson	2003	England	England	2	0	1	1
6	Cri-zelda Brits	2007	Netherlands	Netherlands	1	1	0	0	Grand total					11	1	4	6

Women's One-Day International captains

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African women's cricket team for at least one women's one-day international.

South African women's ODI captains
Number	Name	Year	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	No result
1	Kim Price	1997-2000	26	13	12	0	1
2	Linda Olivier	1999	3	0	3	0	0
3	Cindy Eksteen	1999-2002	6	2	3	0	1
4	Alison Hodgkinson	2003-05	19	4	14	0	1
5	Cri-zelda Brits	2006-07	8	7	0	0	1
Grand total			62	26	32	0	4

Women's Twenty20 Internationals

This is a list of cricketers who have captained the South African women's cricket team for at least one Women's Twenty20 International.

South African women's ODI captains
Number	Name	Year	Played	Won	Lost	Tied	No result
1	Cri-zelda Brits	2007	2	0	2	0	0
Grand total			2	0	2	0	0

See also

• List of South African Test cricketers
• List of South African ODI cricketers

References

• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
• Cricinfo StatsGuru
• CricketArchive