[1] Like many other Commonwealth nations, cricket was first introduced by the British in the early 19th Century, with the sport becoming firmly established in South Africa by the 1880s.

First-class domestic cricket had slowly been developing since 1876, when local settlements and towns played each other in the Cape as part of the Champion Bat Tournament.

Sir Donald Currie, the founder of the Castle Shipping Line and the sponsor of the 1889 English tour, donated a trophy for the champions of the promising domestic competition.

During this time, cricket in South Africa began to spread outside the British settler diaspora, particularly in the Afrikaner and Indian community.

After an eight-year hiatus, the Currie Cup restarted in 1946–47 with all eight provincial teams and Rhodesia (who would now feature permanently) In 1951–52, the competition adopted a two-tiered structure, which was retained in some format until 1999–2000 (except for a one-off recombination into a single division in 1960–61).

The introduction of apartheid (separation of racial groups by strict legal enforcement) following the 1948 General Election did not have a great impact on the domestic competition.

Although previously not bound legally, first-class cricket had long been de facto white-only and international opinion had little practical effect on the domestic game.

With standards exceptionally high, spectators came in their thousands to watch Currie Cup cricket due to the inability to support the national team following South Africa's expulsion in 1970 by the ICC.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the weaker provincial teams began to gradually migrate back from the Bowl competition to the Currie Cup.

During the same time, the Bowl competition was joined by Northern Transvaal B (1982–83), Orange Free State B (1989–90), Border B and Boland B (1993–94) and Griqualand West B (1997–98), as well as a Zimbabwean Board XI (1993–94) and Namibia cricket team (1996–97).

In first-class domestic cricket, Transvaal/Gauteng were the most successful team to have played, winning the competition 25 times between 1889–90 and 2004–05, as well as four shared titles.

The eleven provincial teams were rationalised into six new teams: Western Province and Boland merged to form the Cape Cobras; Griqualand West and Free State formed the Eagles (who later became the Knights in 2010–11); Eastern Province and Border became the Warriors; North West and Gauteng became the Lions; Northerns and Easterns became the Titans; and KwaZulu-Natal became the Dolphins.

The eleven provincial Currie Cup teams, as well as South Western Districts and KwaZulu-Natal Inland, continued to compete separately in the Provincial Three-Day Challenge, which remained a first-class competition, although on a semi-professional level and no longer the top level of red-ball cricket in South Africa.

A new format of 15 first-class teams playing in two separate divisions, determined by promotion and relegation (after 2023/24), has been created in its place.

From 2019, provinces and cricket unions submitted bids to CSA to make a case to be considered for the top division for the initial two seasons.

The bidding process was overseen by the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEE) who took into account a range of criteria, such as cricketing and financial operations, women's and age-group development, transformation policies and stadium infrastructure.

It is hoped that wider selection of teams at the highest domestic level will help increase playing opportunities of all races, particularly those currently underrepresented.

Only Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West – the least populated provinces – will have one team.

Note: Includes only Currie Cup lower division and Bowl seasons with full first-class status.

For the 2012–13 season, the competition was renamed once again, becoming the "Sunfoil Series" after the Willowton Group formed a partnership with Cricket South Africa.