5 facts about South African cricket history that you probably didn't know
South Africa is one of the oldest cricketing nations in the world, having joined international cricket in 1889, they became the third country after England and Australia to play the game.
Despite spending around two decades in the wilderness, South Africa remains one of the great cricketing nations and the country has a rich cricketing history that is the envy of many nations.
Many aspects of South Africa's cricket history is pretty well known but there are certain things that might not be as widely known and here are 5 of those.
#5 Cricket was established in South Africa by a Scotsman
The establishment of a formal first-class system in a country is the first step towards becoming a serious cricketing nation and usually, it is established by administrators of the cricket board.
However, in case of South Africa, it was quite different and it is indeed, hugely interesting that not only was the country's first-class tournament established through the efforts of one man but he was not even a South African.
A Scotish shipping magnate named Sir Donald Currie, who operated shipping lines in South Africa was the man behind the formalisation of cricket in the country. In 1888, he sponsored the country's first-class tournament and it was known as the Currie Cup for a long time.
However, even more importantly, Currie also sponsored the tour of the England team to South Africa in the same year and that helped establish the country as the third nation in international cricket. South African cricket owes its existence to the efforts of one man.