Easterns cricket team

This article is about the South African team. For the Zimbabwean team, see Easterns cricket team (Zimbabwe).

The Easterns cricket team is a South African first-class cricket team. It plays in the top-level domestic competitions organised by Cricket South Africa. The team was formerly named the Eastern Transvaal cricket team.

Easterns

One Day name	Easterns Storm
Team information
Colours	Red
Founded	1991
Home ground	Willowmoore Park, Benoni
Official website	Official website

History

Easterns Cricket Union is based at Benoni in Gauteng province. It was founded as the Eastern Transvaal Cricket Union in June 1991 at Springs,^[1] although Eastern Transvaal had played List A cricket from the 1989–90 season. Prior to 1991 the region was part of the area which fed in to the Northern Transvaal cricket team.^[a][1]

Easterns won the Currie Cup Bowl competition in 1991–92, their first season as a first-class team. The team was renamed Easterns ahead of the 1995–96 season, and after the full Currie Cup competition was opened up to all first-class teams in 1999–00, the side won the Cup in 2002–03.^[2]

During 2003, Cricket South Africa changed the way in which top-class domestic cricket in the country was organised. This created six franchise teams at the top level of domestic competition, combining the existing provincial sides, including Easterns, to create an elite competition. Easterns and Northerns combined to create the Titans franchise, with Northerns as the senior partner. The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series and CSA One-Day Cup became franchise-only competitions from the 2004–05 season, and Easterns competed in the CSA 3-Day and One-Day Cups and, from 2011–12, the CSA T20 competition,^[3][4][5] with the side winning the One-Day Provincial Cup in 2018–19 and the CSA Provincial T20 Cup the following season.^[2]

The period of franchise competition lasted until the end of the 2020–21 season when Cricket South Africa reverted to a division based provincial competition, with Easterns competing separately from the start of the 2021–22 season.^[6][7]

Ahead of the 2006–07 season, the Mpumalanga cricket team was elevated to first-class status. Mpumalanga province had been formed in 1994 out of areas of the East Rand territories that were traditionally associated with Easterns.

Honours

• Currie Cup (1) – 2002–03
• Currie Cup Bowl (1) – 1991–92
• One-Day Provincial Cup (1) – 2018–19
• CSA Provincial T20 Cup (1) – 2019–20

Venues

Venues have included:

• PAM Brink Stadium, Springs (1992–1996)
• Olympia Park, Springs (used once in November 1994; formerly an occasional Northerns venue between 1937 and 1994)
• Willowmoore Park, Benoni (main venue from November 1996)

Notes

1. The province of Gauteng was formed from part of Transvaal Province in 1994. Northern Transvaal became the Northerns cricket team.