CA won’t rush decision on Proteas trophy

Oliver Caffrey | December 19, 2022

Discussions are underway to name the Australia-South Africa Test trophy but an announcement will not come before the end of the three-match series.

Australia and the Proteas have had one of world cricket’s fiercest rivalries since South Africa was readmitted into international sport in 1992 when the country’s apartheid regime was coming to an end.

But the trophy for the Test series between the country’s teams remains nameless despite many fierce battles during the last 30 years.

Australia plays for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India, the Frank Worrell Trophy against the West Indies and the series in Pakistan this year the Benaud-Qadir Trophy was up for grabs for the first time.

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said the preference was for every series their teams contest to have a name.

“I do think it gives a bit of extra essence and meaning to it so it’s something we’ll have a good think about following this series,” Hockley told SEN Cricket on Sunday.

“There’s a lot up for grabs in this series with a World Test Championship berth on the line so that’s something we’ll continue to think about and talk about going forward.

“Certainly our discussions around the Pakistan series there were a lot more consideration and discussions and we worked on that for many months so I think it’s better to get it right rather than a rushed decision.”

Ahead of the 2016-17 series, Cricket Australia’s website gave fans an option to name the perpetual trophy.

“We’d love to hear what fans think this series might be called, and we encourage discussion to consider the names of past players but not be limited by that,” former CA chief executive James Sutherland said at the time.

However, interest waned and a name was never settled on.

Suggestions this week centred around former star batsman Kepler Wessels, the only cricketer to play Test cricket for both Australia and South Africa.

Australian captains Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist have been raised as contenders, as have South African legends Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald and Graeme Smith.