ZA Cricket

South Africa’s new favourite souvenir — the World Test Championship mace — lands at OR Tambo at 9:25am on Wednesday morning, and with it comes a team that did what no South African side had ever done before.

At Lord’s on Saturday, the Proteas beat Australia by five wickets in the WTC final. Aiden Markram’s nerveless 136 anchored the chase, but it was Temba Bavuma — visibly battling a hamstring injury — who held the soul of the innings, making 66 gritty, graceful runs in what could easily become one of South Africa’s most replayed cricketing triumphs.

For a team with a reputation for falling short at the final hurdle, there was something refreshingly clinical — dare we say Australian — about how the Proteas closed out the match. No drama. No rain delays. No Duckworth-Lewis. Just bat, ball, and grit.

More than just one win

This isn’t just a Test match win. And it’s not just a trophy. This was South Africa’s first official world title in Test cricket — and yet, if we’re being pedantic (and we should be, we’re South Africans), it’s actually our fourth.

From 2003 to 2019, the ICC awarded the Test Championship mace to the team ranked No. 1 on April 1 each year. South Africa held that mace three times — in 2013, 2014, and 2015 — back when Dale Steyn was bowling lightning and Hashim Amla was meditating at the crease. That team was brilliant. This team? World champions.

“It’s not easy being captain of South Africa…”

Bavuma, never one to shy away from honesty, opened up after the match in a moment that went beyond cricket.

> “It hasn’t been easy. It’s not easy being captain of South Africa,” he said. “Giving up is always an option. It’s always there at the back of your mind… but something holds you on.”



That “something” was visible at Lord’s: the weight of a nation, the ghosts of missed chances, and a captain who’s had to prove himself twice for every once.

> “I’d like to think I would have won over a couple of doubters,” he said, not bitter, not boastful — just Bavuma.



Australian legend Matthew Hayden, recently inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, was among those singing his praises.

> “What a champion effort. You could see early doors he was struggling with his hamstring, but he hung in there. He played really good, simple cricket,” Hayden told Cricinfo.



Homecoming

The Proteas touch down in Johannesburg at 9:25am on Wednesday morning. If there’s ever been a time to call in sick, ditch school, or fake a dentist appointment, it’s now.

Temba Bavuma. Aiden Markram. Kagiso Rabada. Keshav Maharaj. Kookaburra scars on their whites, sunburn on their arms, and a trophy in the overhead luggage.

They’re not coming home empty-handed. They’re coming home with a mace — and finally, with history on their side.