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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
Key:
| Batting
| Bowling
| Fielding |
| No. | Name | First | Last | M | Runs | HS | Avg | 100 | 50 | W | BB | Ave | 5/i | 10/m | C | St | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‡ | 5 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 6 | 209 | 41 | 17.41 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 63.50 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [7] | |||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 7 | 165 | 47 | 11.78 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 47.00 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [8] | ||||
| † | 5 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 7 | 265 | 18.92 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | [9] | |||||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 6 | 124 | 29 | 10.33 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 37.33 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [10] | ||||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 3 | 13.40 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 44.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [11] | ||||||
| † | 5 Oct. 2006 | 2 Nov. 2006 | 3 | 104 | 57 | 17.33 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | [12] | ||||
| ‡ | 5 Oct. 2006 | 25 Jan. 2007 | 5 | 179 | 38 | 19.88 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 77.66 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [13] | |||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 25 Jan. 2007 | 7 | 172 | 15.63 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 74.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [14] | |||||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 2 Nov. 2006 | 3 | 38 | 14.66 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 45.40 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [15] | |||||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 22 Feb. 2007 | 4 | 11.00 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 78.66 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [16] | ||||||
| 5 Oct. 2006 | 2 Nov. 2006 | 3 | 21.00 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 71.33 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [17] | ||||||
| 26 Oct. 2006 | 26 Oct. 2006 | 1 | 24 | 16.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | [18] | |||||||||
| 26 Oct. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 5 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [19] | ||||||||||
| 26 Oct. 2006 | 2 Nov. 2006 | 2 | 22 | 15.50 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 71.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | [20] | |||||
| 2 Nov. 2006 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 5 | 109 | 55 | 10.90 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 39.00 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | [21] | ||||
| 18 Jan. 2007 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 4 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 42.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [22] | ||||||
| 18 Jan. 2007 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 3 | 43 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 43.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | [23] | |||||
| 18 Jan. 2007 | 1 Mar. 2007 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | [24] |