Northern Cape (formerly Griqualand West) is a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

team that nominally represents the South African province of Northern Cape in the

CSA Provincial Competitions The CSA Provincial Competitions are three South African domestic cricket competitions run by Cricket South Africa (CSA). Three-day (first-class cricket, first-class) and one-day (List A cricket, List A) competitions were introduced for the 2004– ...

. The team is selected and supported by Northern Cape Cricket and plays its home games at the

De Beers Diamond Oval The De Beers Diamond Oval is a cricket stadium in Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa. It opened in 1973 and has a capacity of 11,000. It is currently used mostly for cricket matches and is the home venue of both the VKB Knights, in the Su ...

in Kimberley. At organisational level, Northern Cape Cricket is responsible for the administration and development of cricket in the province and among its primary functions are management and promotion of the Northern Cape team. Originally founded sometime before 1884 as the Kimberley Cricket Club, the organization developed at provincial level as the Griqualand West Cricket Board until 2015 when it was renamed Northern Cape Cricket to comply with a government directive that provincial sporting bodies should have their governance structure aligned with the geo-political structure of the country. The team was called Kimberley to 1890–91 and Griqualand West to 2014–15. It has been called Northern Cape from the beginning of the 2015–16 season. For the purposes of the SuperSport (now Sunfoil) Series, Griqualand West merged with Free State to form the VKB Knights (originally the Diamond Eagles) from October 2004, but Griqualand West (renamed Northern Cape in 2015) has retained its independent status as a team in the CSA Provincial Competitions.

Honours

* Currie Cup (1) – 1890–91 * Standard Bank Cup (1) – 1998–99 * South African Airways Provincial Three-Day Challenge (4) – 2004–05, 2007–08, 2008-09, 2011-12 * South African Airways Provincial One-Day Challenge (0) * Gillette/Nissan Cup (0)

Team history

Beginning as Kimberley Cricket Club, the team is first recorded in the 1884–85 season playing in the

Champion Bat Tournament The Champion Bat Tournament was a cricket tournament played in the late 1800s in present-day South Africa. Rather than a cup, the winner of the tournament was presented with the "Champion Bat" – a cricket bat emblazoned with a silver crest. Con ...

. In 1888–89, they won two odds matches against the English touring team known then as R. G. Warton's XI. As a result of those victories, Kimberley were awarded the new

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

as the most accomplished domestic team in South Africa. In the 1889–90 season, they were successfully challenged for the trophy by

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

but they recovered it in 1890–91. The first matches as Griqualand West were played in December 1890 for the

and, from 1891–92, the team was known by its provincial name only. In 1897, the Barnato Memorial Trophy was given to the Griqualand West Coloured Cricket Board, a union for all black cricket players that had been set up in 1892.Odendaal, ''op. cit.'', p. 60. Griqualand West participated in the first Barnato Tournament in 1898–99, along with Eastern Province, Queenstown, Southern Border, and

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

.Odendaal, ''op. cit.'', pp. 79–80. In 1904, Griqualand West was one of the three founding members of the South African Coloured Cricket Board (SACCB).Odendaal, ''op. cit.'', p. 810. In total, there were thirteen editions of the SACCB-run Barnato Cup tournaments, which were played between 1904 and 1951–52. Griqualand West won the competition in 1910 and hosted it in 1904 and 1913. In 2004–05, the format of the Sunfoil (then SuperSport) Series was changed, with the reduction of eleven provincial teams into six franchises. After missing the first season of the franchise tournament due to a legal dispute, Griqualand West partnered Free State to create the then Diamond Eagles who were renamed VKB Knights ahead of the 2010–11 season. Just before the beginning of the 2015–16 season it was announced that the organisation was to be renamed Northern Cape Cricket, in line with the national government directive that provincial sporting bodies should have their governance structure aligned with the geo-political structure of the country.

Venues

Venues have included: * Eclectics Cricket Club Ground, Kimberley (1889–1914) * Athletic Club Ground, Kimberley (1920–1927) * De Beers Stadium, Kimberley (1927–1973) * Christian Brothers College, Kimberley (Dec 1951–Jan 1952) *

, Kimberley (1973–present)

Squad

In April 2021,

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

confirmed the following squad ahead of the 2021–22 season. *

Aubrey Swanepoel Aubrey Swanepoel (born 18 June 1989) is a South African first-class cricketer. He was included in the Griqualand West cricket team for the 2015 Africa T20 Cup. In September 2018, he was named in Northern Cape's squad for the 2018 Africa T20 Cup. ...

* Beyers Swanepoel * Ernest Kemm * Kagiso Mohale * Andrew Rasemene * Evan Jones * Rivaldo Moonsamy *

Jonathan Vandiar Jonathan David Vandiar (born 25 April 1990) is a South African first-class cricketer who currently plays for the Titans Cricket Team. He played for Dolphins since 2007 season, but later opted a switch to the Highveld Lions Cricket Team, also re ...

* Victor Mahlangu * Isaac Dikgale * Johan van Dyk

Honours

Team history

Venues

Squad

References

Further reading