Kei (cricket team)

Kei were a South African first-class cricket team based in the Eastern Cape city of Mthatha.

When Cricket South Africa decided to expand the Provincial Three-Day Challenge in 2006, Kei were one of five provincial teams (along with KwaZulu-Natal Inland, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and South Western Districts) elevated to first-class status.^{[citation needed]}

Kei played seven first-class matches in the 2006–07 season, losing them all by large margins, five of them by an innings. They also lost all six of their matches in the Provincial One-Day Challenge by large margins. None of their matches were played on their home ground in Mthatha.^{[citation needed]}

Their most successful batsman in the first-class matches was Sivuyile Duda,^[1] who scored 265 runs at an average of 18.92 including the team's only century, 102 against KwaZulu-Natal Inland.^[2] Keeping wicket, Duda also made four catches and a stumping in that match, and finished the season with 12 catches and two stumpings. He played one match for KwaZulu-Natal Inland in 2007–08.^{[citation needed]}

In a competition that was itself of borderline first-class status, Cricket South Africa considered Kei's performance (and those of Limpopo and Mpumalanga) too weak to justify their place, and after one season, all three teams were omitted.^[3] They have played no further first-class cricket.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2010–11 Kei have competed in the Cricket South Africa Rural League, coastal division, a 50-over competition.^[4]

Kei played seven matches at first-class level, all during the 2006–07 season of the South African Airways Provincial Challenge.^[5] The team used 18 players during this period, three of whom (Sivuyile Duda, Mdngezi Nabe, and Junior Yoli) played in each match.^[6]

• Lists of matches played by Kei at CricketArchive

• South African Cricket Annual – various editions
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions