South Africa national baseball team  The South African national baseball team is a baseball team which represents the Republic of South Africa in international baseball competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and the Summer Olympics. The governing body of the team is the South African Baseball Union. On 5 July 1931, the first inter-provincial match was played between the only two provincial teams, Transvaal and Natal, in front of a crowd of 4,000 spectators. Included in the match was Springbok cricketer Buster Nupen (Transvaal) and future Springbok cricketer Leslie Payn (Natal). Springbok All-Star teams would later be based on the best of several provinces, with Transvaal, Natal, and Western Province dominating. In 1933, the clash between Natal and Transvaal included Olympic gold medal hurdler Sid Atkinson (Natal), Springbok cricketer Eric Dalton (Natal), Springbok cricket captain Jock Cameron (Transvaal), and Springbok cricketer Syd Curnow (Transvaal). In 1934, the match between Natal and Western Province featured Springbok rugby player Gerry Brand (Western Province). The South African Baseball Federation was founded in 1935, with five provincial associations including Transvaal, Natal (founded 1931), Western Province (founded 1932), Eastern Province (founded 1934), and Border. The first South African All-Star team appears to be formed on 19 November 1938, when an 'All Africa team' made up of the 'combined provinces' played a US Navy team from the USS "Boise". South African cricketer Dudley Nourse featured for Natal a few days later , and was noted as winning 'admiration of the visitors'. Nourse would later go on to captain and manage the South African cricket team as well as later holding Springbok records for test appearances and batting average. When he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1948, the Press Association reported Nourse 'became one of his country's leading baseball experts'. The score is recorded as 18-3 to US Navy. In Cape Town, on 17 November 1945, a South African exhibition team made up of players from the Transvaal, Natal, Eastern, and Western Province provinces took on a US Navy team from the USS "Tennessee" and USS "California" battleships. 'Nearly 20,000 cheering fans witnessed the principal game, which the ships’ company was hard pressed to win by two tallies (six to four)'.