1889–90 Currie Cup
| Cricket format | First-class cricket (3 days) |
|---|---|
| Tournament format(s) | Single match |
| Champions | Transvaal (1st title) |
| Participants | 2 |
| Matches played | 1 |
| Most runs | Monty Bowden (189 for Transvaal) |
| Most wickets | Aubrey Smith (7 for Transvaal) |
The 1889–90 Currie Cup was the inaugural edition of the Currie Cup, the premier first-class cricket tournament in South Africa. The 1889–90 competition involved just two teams, Transvaal and Kimberley. The two sides played a single, three-day match, which was won by Transvaal by six wickets.
Both sides made low scores in their first innings; Kimberley, who had opted to bat first, were dismissed for 98 runs, and in their reply Transvaal reached 117, a lead of just 19 runs. In the second innings, they both fared better; a century from Bernard Tancred helped Kimberley to a total of 235, but Transvaal reached their total in 38 five-ball overs, helped by a century from Monty Bowden.
First-class cricket was first played in South Africa in the previous 1888–89 season, when Robert Warton managed a side which toured the country, playing against representative teams from each of the provinces, and two matches against South Africa, which were later adjudged to have Test cricket status. During that tour, Donald Currie donated the Currie Cup to be awarded to the team which performed best against the touring side; which was judged to be Kimberley. In other first-class matches during the 1889–90 season, Kimberley faced Natal twice, winning both matches. Transvaal did not play any first-class cricket prior to their Currie Cup contest with Kimberley.
Transvaal challenged Kimberley for the Currie Cup in 1890, the first such challenge for the trophy. A number of the team selections were controversial: the selection committee for Transvaal chose Aubrey Smith and Monty Bowden, both of whom had remained in South Africa after touring as part of the England cricket team the previous year, and Charlie Finlason, who played the majority of his cricket for the opposition Kimberley team. Finlason, a newspaper journalist, had fallen out with Smith after writing a number of articles criticising him and the English side. When Finlason was selected for Transvaal, Smith—who was captaining the side—made him bat at number eleven.
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