Sir Vivian Richards is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He has had multiple honors to his name owing to his contributions on the cricket field. One of his legacies is the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy that is awarded to the test series winner between West Indies and South Africa.
Unlike other cricket trophies that are named after cricket legends of the two competing sides (Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Richards-Botham Trophy, Benaud-Qadir Trophy, Sobers-Tissera Trophy, Warne-Muralidaran Trophy, etc), the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy is not named in that manner. It is named simply to honor the impact that Viv Richards had on the game owing to his prowess in batting in test cricket.
The Africans and the Caribbeans played their first test series as a one-off match in 1991. This was won by West Indies. Seven years later, the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy was officially announced. Between 1998 to 2008, the series was contested five times. It was held four more times between 2010 to 2023. A total of nine series have been held till date and South Africa have won each of them.
The series fixtures are decided based on the home-away format. This means that the two teams alternatively tour each other. A total of 31 test matches have been played in the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy as of 2023. The South Africans have won 22, whereas the West Indies have managed only two match wins. The rest of the matches have ended in a draw.
South African pace bowler Dale Steyn is the only player to have won the man of the series twice. All-rounder Jacques Kallis has been the leading run-scorer with 2356 runs. Former Proteas captain Shaun Pollock leads the wickets tally with 70 to his name.
