Countries | South Africa |
---|---|
Administrator | Cricket South Africa |
Format | First-class cricket |
First tournament | 1889-90 |
Tournament format | Round-robin |
Number of teams | 6 |
Current champion | Titans |
Most successful | Highveld Lions (25 titles) |
Most runs | Graeme Pollock (12,409) |
Most wickets | Vintcent van der Bijl (572) |
2016–17 Sunfoil Series |
The Sunfoil Series is the main domestic first class cricket competition in South Africa, first contested (as the Currie Cup) in 1889-90. From 1990-91 it became known as the Castle Cup, from 1996-97 as the Supersport Series and from 2012-13 by its current title. The Highveld Lions (formerly Transvaal) have won the title the most times (25, plus four shared titles).
Knights were known as the Eagles prior to the 2010-11 season.
Teams are awarded points based on the result of the match as follows:
In addition, teams earn bonus points based on their performance in the first 100 overs of each team's first innings:
A points system of this basic structure was first introduced in 1971-72, and has been used in almost all seasons since; the exact points values used today were first introduced in 2002-03.
Cricket in South Africa was established by the British, and the first tour by a side from England took place in 1888-89. The following summer, the Currie Cup was established as a domestic competition. The trophy was donated by and named after Sir Donald Currie. An earlier competition, the Champion Bat Tournament, was established in 1876 and played on five occasions, generally between towns from the major settlements in the Cape. Only the final edition of the Champion Bat was accorded first-class status, contested by Eastern Province, Griqualand West, and Western Province during the 1890–91 season.
The inaugural competition, in 1889–90, consisted of a single match between Kimberley and Transvaal. In this match, Bernard Tancred (106), for Kimberley and Monty Bowden (126*), for Transvaal, both in the second innings, scored the first centuries in Currie Cup cricket. In the first innings of the same match, George Glover took 6/50 for Kimberley. The following season saw a rematch between Kimberley and Transvaal; Charlie Finlason scored 154* for Kimberley, and John Piton took 13/204 for Transvaal in the match. Each team won one of these initial two encounters.