The South Africa cricket team toured New Zealand in February 2024 to play two Test matches.

[4] The trophy commemorated the tragic events of 1953,[5] when 151 people on the train from Wellington to Auckland on Christmas eve - including Nerissa Love, the fiancé of New Zealand fast bowler Bob Blair - lost their lives in the rail disaster.

[16] In December 2023, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced an understrength Test team for the tour, composed of players with little or no Test cricket experience, in order to allow their best players to remain in South Africa to compete in the SA20 (a domestic Twenty20 franchise tournament).

[19][20] Former Australian captain Steve Waugh was particularly critical, stating his opinion that Test cricket was in danger of no longer being the highest format of the game as the best players were incentivised to play Twenty20 because of better pay.

[22] On 8 February 2024, New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell was ruled out of the second Test due to an injury, with William O'Rourke added to the squad.