The 2018 Africa T20 Cup was the fourth and final edition of the
Africa T20 Cup, a
Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa in September 2018, as a curtain-raiser to the 2018–19 South African domestic season.[1] Provincial side
KwaZulu-Natal Inland were the defending champions.[2][3]
Organised by
Cricket South Africa, the tournament was played between twenty teams.[4] Sixteen of these teams had participated in previous years – thirteen South African provincial teams, national representative sides of
Kenya,
Namibia and
Zimbabwe[5] – and they were joined by South African teams
Limpopo and
Mpumalanga along with
Nigeria[6] and
Uganda.[7] The invitation was initially extended to
Ghana, but they declined.[7]
On the opening day of the tournament,
Marco Marais scored an unbeaten century for
Border against
Namibia in Group C.[9] In Group D,
Shane Dadswell scored 98 runs from 34 balls for
North West, which Cricket South Africa described as "the performance of the day".[10] On the second day, Marais scored his second century, making 106
not out.[11]Wihan Lubbe also scored a century, batting for
North West against
Limpopo in Group D.[12] In the same match, North West scored 262 runs, the second-highest score in T20 cricket.[12]
Following the conclusion of the group stage of the tournament,
Easterns,
Gauteng,
Border and
North West had all progressed to the semi-finals of the competition.[13] Gauteng and North West were drawn together in the first semi-final, with Border and Easterns playing each other in the second semi-final.[14] The matches took place at
Buffalo Park in
East London.[14]
In the first semi-final, Gauteng beat North West by 27 runs to progress to the final.[15] They were joined by Border, after they beat Easterns by 7 wickets in the second semi-final.[16] Gauteng won the tournament, beating Border by three wickets in the final.[17][18]
For the next season, the tournament was replaced with the returning
CSA Provincial T20 Cup, last played in the
2015–16 season, and featuring only the South African domestic provincial teams.[19][20]