South Africa's domestic teams will play more first-class matches in the 2026-27 season, in which the country will also host eight Tests. The eight division 1 provincial teams will play ten matches each, up from seven since the restructuring of the game five summers ago, while the seven division 2 sides will play 12 matches each, double the usual six.
Division 1 teams have been divided into two groups of four, and will play each other home and away in their group for a total of six matches. They will then each play one match against the teams in the other group for a total of ten. The groups see the defending champions, Lions pooled with Boland, Dragons and newly promoted Knights while Western Province, Warriors, Dolphins and Titans are in the opposite group. The competition will start in September and run for two rounds before South Africa's first Test series of the summer, against Australia, then will resume in November-December as South Africa host Bangladesh and England and will conclude in April, when a five-day final is scheduled. Cricinfo understands that the increase in Division 1 red-ball matches was pushed by the provincial unions.
White-ball cricket for Division 1 sides will begin in February, with the Pro50 tournament which will be played as a single round of round-robin matches. Each team will play the other seven once before a qualifier and a final in late March which follows the same format as last year. There will only be one T20 competition this season: a Pro20 Cup, in which all 15 domestic sides as well as a South African Emerging side between late September and mid-November. The Division 1 CSA T20 Challenge has been scrapped.
The new Pro20 Cup will include 71 matches with the 16 teams split into two groups of eight. Each team will play the other seven in their pool and the top four will progress to a Super 8 round, which will consist of 12 matches, before semi-finals and a final. The inclusion of all South Africa's domestic teams in a T20 competition, rather than a 50-over one, especially with an ODI World Cup looming, came at the behest of the Division 2 teams, who believe the commercial opportunities for T20 cricket will serve them best. It is understood that a sponsor for the tournament and television broadcast details are yet to be confirmed.