The current world Test champion team is Temba Bavuma‘s and he is owning it. For the first time in his career, possibly even in his life, Temba Bavuma can be “recognised as more than just a black African cricketer,” as he put it in the post-match press conference. He can be seen – really seen, for the person, the leader and the cricketer that he is. All of it can be summed up in the word his batting coach used to describe him on the third evening, when Temba Bavuma batted with a strained hamstring and deep sense of self-belief: tough.
Temba Bavuma masterminded the greatest victory in South African cricket history by helping the Proteas defeat Australia by five wickets in the final of the ICC World Test Championship at Lord’s. The win helped South Africa bury the “chokers” tag in the process as they not only held their nerve under pressure in a crunch game, a situation they had crumbled in multiple times in the past, they ended up bossing their way to victory in the second half of the game.
Temba Bavuma – The fighter skipper who never gave up
Temba Bavuma comes from Langa, a township in Cape Town which is as far from St John’s Wood, economically and geographically, as it gets. He grew up playing street cricket on bits of road named after the famous places he and his team-mates had heard of but never actually thought they’d get to.
“I never pictured myself playing here at Lord’s. I could only fantasise about it,” Bavuma said, as he recalled his childhood in the early 90s, a time when everything in South Africa was changing.
Within a decade, he was being schooled at some of the country’s top institutions as part of the early waves of children of colour going to elite, formerly all-white schools, and by his late teens, he was in the domestic cricketing system. At 24, he made his Test debut in a team that was ranked No.1 and from that has carried a burden no other batter in the global game has ever had to bear.
Temba Bavuma has had to prove, over and over and over again, that black South Africans (because remember there was Richards and Sobers and Lloyd and Greenidge and Lara) can bat.
His was an unusual position because there had been many black South African batters active in the Apartheid era including some from his own family, but their records were sidelined. Unification came in name only and it took six years before South Africa fielded its first black African cricketer – Makhaya Ntini – and 22 before Temba Bavuma was capped. Being the first carried the responsibility of being the representative. In Bavuma, South Africa saw the totality of their black African batting talent which magnified his every performance.
When he succeeded, as he did with his first century in 2016, it was hailed as a turning point for black cricket. When he failed, it was the entire demographics’ failure. That is a hell of a big thing to carry around with you, often without sympathy from the outside world, who understand little of the nuances of South Africa’s racial realities.
When Temba Bavuma was put in charge of the white-ball sides in 2021, despite having only six ODI and eight T20I caps to his name, he was immediately called a quota captain and his poor form in South Africa’s horrendous 2022 T20 World Cup campaign, where they lost to Netherlands, didn’t help. But then things shifted.
A new coach, Shukri Conrad, who understands the complexities of South African cricket because he has spent his whole career steeped in them was handed the Test reins. He chose Temba Bavuma as his captain, putting him in control in the format he had performed best in.
Temba Bavuma’s opening act under Conrad was a career-best 172 against West Indies at his home ground, the Wanderers. That century was seven years in the making, Temba Bavuma’s second in 57 Tests and the floodgates opened. He scored two more in the last summer and has led South Africa’s current WTC campaign.
Because South Africa played (12) fewer Tests than almost anyone else in this cycle, Bavuma is barely spoken of when it comes to the cycle’s top performers but he should be. He was South Africa’s leading run-scorer before this Test (and has since been joined by David Bedingham) and averages 59.25 with two hundreds and five fifties. Those are numbers worth shouting about. They celebrate Temba Bavuma the batter and the way he has led from the front but they don’t tell the story of what it took for him to do that.
For that, you had to have been at Lord’s, seen Temba Bavuma pull up with a hamstring strain when he was on 6 and refuse to let it win. This was his third hamstring injury in two years: the first kept him out of the first Test of this cycle and he risked the second to play in the 2023 World Cup semi-final, where he was vilified for his actions. This time, even when the team management told him they did not think he should go back out after tea, he took control of his own destiny.
For that, you had to have been at Lord’s, seen Temba Bavuma pull up with a hamstring strain when he was on 6 and refuse to let it win. This was his third hamstring injury in two years: the first kept him out of the first Test of this cycle and he risked the second to play in the 2023 World Cup semi-final, where he was vilified for his actions. This time, even when the team management told him they did not think he should go back out after tea, he took control of his own destiny.
Following the historic win,South Africa captain Temba Bavuma revealed Australian players used the word ‘choke’ during the WTC final. The Proteas secured a historic win, ending their long wait for an ICC title.
Temba Bavuma reflects on Australia’s sledging
After years of stumbling at or just before the final hurdle, South Africa finally took that last, decisive step to claim silverware. The long-standing albatross of failing to convert deep tournament runs into titles was finally lifted. Things changed at Lord’s, where Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma steered a 282-run chase, etching their names as national heroes back home.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said that he heard some of the Australian players use the word ‘choke’ to sledge the team on Saturday, June 14, on Day 4 of the World Test Championship final. The Proteas defeated the Aussies by five wickets to end their wait for an ICC title.
Beyond battling against Australia’s strong team and winning mentality to achieve the victory, South Africa had to overcome this mental burden of their own — and one which the Aussies made a point of pressuring on the pitch in their interactions with the Proteas. Temba Bavuma confirmed as much in his post-match quotes.
Fans have long trolled South Africa with the name ‘chokers’ due to their inability to win big games. Many felt that Australia still had a chance heading into what turned out to be the final day of the Test. Speaking after the win, Temba Bavuma said that one of the Australian players said that they could still get bowled out despite needing 69 runs to win on Day 4 with 8 wickets remaining.
“Whilst we were batting, we could hear the Aussies using that dreaded word, choke,” South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma told BBC Test Match Special.
“The tag of us being chokers, that came about this morning,” Temba Bavuma said after the win.
“One of their players threw out the fact we could still get bowled out … I definitely heard that.”
Temba Bavuma was happy that South Africa were able to get over the line in a big final and etch their names in the record books.
“It’s been years since we’ve overcome a final, we’ve been etched in history. Now we’re part of something that has never been done.”
With the win, South Africa became the third team to win the WTC title, after New Zealand and Australia. Temba Bavuma can now put his name to such a massive achievement is what will come to define him, and it’s been a long time coming. Running parallel to Temba Bavuma’s time at the helm of cricket has been Siya Kolisi’s as captain of the Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team. Under Kolisi’s leadership, South Africa won two World Cups in the same time as South Africa’s cricket side failed in four.
Also Read: ICC WTC 2023-25: Aiden Markram’s 136 Runs Power South Africa To WTC Triumph