South Africa in 2015 - The Year in Review

The year that was:

South Africa began the year with lofty expectations. No. 1 Test team in the World with a reputation to carry. World Cup favourites with an elusive trophy to win. By the end of the year, nothing had changed on paper - South Africa were still the best in the world in Tests, and the World Cup still remained elusive. 2015, however, has to rank as one of the hardest years for the super-talented team.

Jan 18th - AB de Villiers shows why South Africa will be amongst the hot favourites in the upcoming World Cup and why he will be the Player to watch out for as he obliterates Corey Anderson's world record fastest ODI hundred. ABD smashes West Indies to smitherrens with his 31 ball hundred - the fastest ever.

Jan 21st - The Proteas seal the five-match series against West Indies by winning the first three ODIs of the home series against WI.

Feb 27th - South Africa's start to the World Cup is less than perfect as they lose to India and Pakistan. However, their win against West Indies, which saw AB de Villiers wallop the fastest ever 150, ensured they served a timely reminder to all the contenders about how dangerous a team they are.

March 24th - Heartbreak for SA as NZ beat them in semifinal of the World Cup. Sydney 1992. Edgbaston 1999. Durban 2003. Dhaka 2011 and now Auckland 2015. Every World Cup has proven to be painful for South Africa and this result continues the sorry saga.

April 14th - Allan Donald steps down as South Africa's bowling coach. Donald was appointed in June 2011 as part of Gary Kirsten's management team and continued in the role under Russell Domingo from August 2013. The 48 year-old said it is "the right time to move on" and thanked the players, coaches and Cricket South Africa for their support over the years. Charl Langeveldt took up the position a couple of months later.

June 4th - de Villiers named SA cricketer of the year. He was voted Cricketer of the Year for the second successive season. His other awards included ODI Cricketer of the Year, Cricketers' Cricketer of the Year and Supporters' Cricketer of the Year. There was also a special award for scoring the fastest ODI international century, against the West Indies at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg.

July 10th - Kagiso Rabada makes ODI debut. He became only the second man in history to claim a hat-trick on debut as South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by eight wickets in a rain-hit first one-day international in Dhaka. Rabada finished with 6-16, the best ever one-day haul by a debutant.

July 15th - Bangladesh continue their stunning run in ODIs and notch up 9-wicket win against SA. South Africa lose the ODI series 2-1.

July 28th - Former South African captain, Clive Rice, passed away in the early hours of this day in a Cape Town hospital. Rice, 66, was said to be suffering from an advanced stage of brain tumour.

July 30th - Dale Steyn becomes the 2nd quickest bowler ever to take 400 wickets. He became the second-joint quickest ever to take 400 Test wickets. He also became only the second South African, after Shaun Pollock, to reach 400 Test scalps. He has taken all these wickets at an average that is stunningly low - at 22.58.

July 31st - Haroon Lorgat's tenure extended till 2019 as CEO of CSA. The Board noted with delight the exceptional progress made by CSA since Lorgat's appointment in 2013.

August 3rd - 2nd Test against Bangladesh washed out. Series ends 0-0 after two rain-affected games.

August 9th - Ten South Africa A players have been hospitalised due to "food poisoning", including four on Sunday after playing their tri-series cricket match against India A in Chennai, the visiting team management said.

August 26th - AB de Villiers slams a quickfire fifty while Rabada and Wiese bowled well to help South Africa win ODI series against New Zealand.

October 21th - Jacques Kallis was named the head coach of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, replacing Trevor Bayliss. Bayliss was signed up as England national side's coach before Ashes 2015 in July.

October 25th - South Africa slam 438 to win their first-ever bilateral ODI series in India. Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock smash hundreds to rattle the hosts.

November 12th - Philander suffers a leg injury in Bangalore and is subsequently ruled out of the Test series.

November 23rd - Rabada wins newcomer of the year at the Cricket South Africa awards function.

November 27th - India ends South Africa's nine-year unbeaten away Test series run. South Africa lost the third Test against India at Nagpur and as a result conceded the series. India took an unassailable 2-0 lead and ended South Africa glorious run in away Test series that stretched back to 2006.

December 7th - South Africa lose India series 3-0. They lost three off the four Tests played in India, with their batting coming up a cropper on turning tracks.

December 8th - Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain who retired from international cricket in March last year, said, on Tuesday (December 8), that he's considering coming out of retirement.December 13th - Unlimited Titans win Ram Slam T20. Mangaliso Mosehle came to The Unlimited Titans' rescue as he played a superb knock to help his side win the Ram Slam T20 tournament. The Unlimited Titans defeated Sunfoil Dolphins to win this year's Ram Slam T20.December 27th - de Villiers hints at too much workload. He confirmed that he wants to lessen his workload in international cricket. The cricketer made the comments amidst claims that was considering Test retirement.

December 26th - 30th - South Africa lose Boxing Day Test to England at Durban by 241 runs. Moeen Ali, Steven Finn star with ball for England. Dean Elgar is the only shining light for hosts, who now look a shadow of the world-beating side they were before they toured Bangladesh.

Best player - AB de Villiers - Without any doubts, AB de Villiers stood head and shoulders above his teammates with his performances in 2015. Despite his team under-performing this year, AB de Villiers maintained his lofty standards with some stellar performances.

Worst player - Hashim Amla - We are not used to seeing Hashim Amla suffer as much as he has this year. The right-hander, who was asked to captain the Test side, scored just one fifty+ score in 2015 in Tests, in 12 innings. In ODIs, he managed 4 hundreds, but three of those came against West Indies (2) and Ireland. His performances during the World Cup, the Bangladesh series and the India series left a lot to be desired.

Most promising - Kagiso Rabada - Fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada is one of world cricket's finds of the year. He has proven his mettle in the tour of India after making his debut for the Proteas at the age of 19. His ODI debut came against Bangladesh at Mirpur where his figures of 6/16 were the best ever by a debutant and the best ever for the Proteas, beating Makhaya Ntinis 6/22 against Australia. Rabada was also only the second player to take a hat-trick on debut. He has since made his Test debut and has thus represented the Proteas in all three formats by the age of 20.