Ken Borland

The Proteas Test side has a massive summer ahead of them and the conversation about carrying themselves as champions has already been had, according to captain Temba Bavuma.

South Africa are the holders of the World Test Championship after their stirring victory over favourites Australia in the final at Lord’s in June 2025, and the defence of that momentous title – their first in a major ICC event – is looming. The final for the fourth edition of the red-ball showpiece will also be in London, but at The Oval from June 9-13 next year.

Which is why the Proteas are unashamedly, and wonderfully, focused on Test cricket this summer with eight Tests scheduled between October 9 and January 7.

But the 2027 WTC final is not the only huge event on the Proteas’ calendar. South Africa is hosting the ODI World Cup from October 4 next year. That trophy, that has so cruelly eluded us through any manner of ridiculous ways, is arguably the one that is most-desired, given the history and prestige of the tournament.

Sitting down with Bavuma in the Skechers store at Fourways Mall in Johannesburg, I asked how he and the team were feeling on the brink of such a momentous time.

“I feel good, mentally fresh and physically in a good space having only played four games in the EUT20 Belgium since the end of our domestic season. After the CSA Awards [July 16], we saw all the guys and spoke about the season ahead and what an exciting run we have,” Bavuma told me with the sort of relaxed steel in his eyes that has become his trademark.

“Every season is a big one for us, but there’s way more to it this time. We’re playing the World Test Championship for the first time as champions and we host Australia first up in three Tests, so there are going to be fireworks.

“There’s a lot to look forward to, coming up against some of the best teams with England here for three Tests around Christmas, and Bangladesh, who have been playing good cricket and have a strong attack, coming too.

“For the Test side, one of the biggest things we’ve spoken about is playing like champions after winning the WTC. We must speak to each other like champions and not allow there to be any inferiority, because I think we carried a lot of that in the past. We understand there’s going to be a target on our backs, but we did good work in India last year [winning 2-0].

“Australia are going to provide a proper test, and we need to make sure we keep putting our best foot forward. We don’t want to look after two years to see the impact of our win at Lord’s, but after four years, and we keep reminding each other of our mission, which is to win the title again,” Bavuma said.

The focus on Test cricket, the longest, most gruelling format, means the Proteas will blood new players in white-ball cricket this summer, which makes sense with the ODI World Cup just over a year away. Coach Shukri Conrad has said he only needs to start playing his “shadow side” for that tournament in January when England are the opponents for three ODIs in Paarl and Bloemfontein. The next T20 World Cup is more than two years away, in October 2028 in Australia and New Zealand.

Which is why the likes of Bavuma, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram are not with the Proteas right now in Namibia. Instead, Bjorn Fortuin is leading a squad armed with fringe players like the Hermann brothers, Prenelan Subrayen, Nqobani Mokoena and Connor Esterhuizen.

“I’ve spent a whole lot of time at home and on the couch, but I’m always working on my ailments as well, to keep my body as strong and fresh as possible. But from a mental point of view, I’m missing actual cricket now,” the 36-year-old Bavuma said.

“The ODI World Cup is still over a year away, which is why the squad now looks very different. In terms of style of play, we want to start getting our heads around that and who are the key individuals? We want to keep the confidence and belief of the Test team.”

Of course, South Africa have a yukky record of making a mess of World Cups, but the tenacious skipper is adamant the team will face their history head-on and try to turn the pressure of expectation playing at home into fuel to drive performance.

“We will carry belief from having played in the final and then the semifinals of the last two T20 World Cups and winning the World Test Championship. And in the last ODI World Cup we performed well too to reach the semifinals.

“Whatever demons there are, we will have those conversations, that will definitely happen, even though we are focused more on Tests this year. Pressure is always there and the more you do well, the more expectation there is. All eyes will be on us and I’m sure our fans expect us to do good things at home.

“We are creating an environment that makes us able to perform at ICC events and if we keep giving ourselves a chance, keep getting into position to win one, then at some point things will change in our favour,” Bavuma said.

In the meantime, what a pleasure it is going to be to be able to sit back and watch the Proteas take on two of their greatest rivals in a full summer programme that will hopefully reignite the gees [contagious energy] that used to surround our national cricket team.

PS: Bavuma captained the Ghent Gladiators team to victory in the EUT20 Belgium, scoring 28 off 17 balls in the final. He played alongside Jon-Jon Smuts and Dwaine Pretorius in a tournament which also featured Martin Guptill, Jason Roy, Tristan Luus and David Wiese.

A 3-0 series victory over Malawi was as good a debut in charge as new Proteas netball coach Jenny van Dyk could ask for, but she said there is still plenty of room for improvement as she looks to grow the depth of the South Africa squad.

The Proteas won the three Tests, played at the Ellis Park Arena last weekend, 68-31, 69-38 and 69-24, a record winning margin against Malawi, a side who have always provided tough competition and are currently ranked seventh in the world to South Africa’s fifth.

“I’m really happy, it’s the way we wanted to start and I’m really proud of the girls,” Van Dyk said. “The team reacted well and they stuck to the game-plan, they played with a lot of passion, they played hard and they did us proud. As a first series, it was certainly good enough, we’ve got the goals we wanted. I challenged them to get certain scores and they have shown themselves to be coachable and they have a great mindset.

“Scoreline-wise, I am very pleased. To win 3-0 in your first run out is great and we also managed to test a lot of combinations. At times our second combination was under pressure and there are more proper tests to come. This series was an opportunity to pair the right combinations together and they gave it a good shot.

“We could just revert back to the old combinations, but I want 15 strong players. I understand it’s a tall order, but we’ve seen those cycles when we have seven strong players, but then you have one or two injuries and the whole campaign is destroyed. So we need to create depth and I will also be having a good look at the U21 World Cup next year, that gives good exposure to the young talent,” Van Dyk said.

The team will now have a short break before gathering in early December for a camp that will take place at the same time as the Spar National Championships in Johannesburg, and the next week the Proteas head off to Namibia for the Africa Cup in Swakopmund from December 9.

Four of the Proteas squad are, however, involved in the Fast 5 World Series in New Zealand, including Kamogelo Maseko, the creative mainstay of the team, and exciting new goal shooter Rolene Streutker.

Veteran Karla Pretorius is still an absolute pillar in defence for the Proteas, and she emphasised the learning curve that the national netball team are on at the moment.

“This series was an opportunity to push different combinations, it was not just about getting good wins but also testing combinations and putting players in different situations. We wanted tough games, to be in those tricky situations, out of their safety zones. To put out different combinations and still win 3-0 is the positive.

“We’re happy with what we got out of the series, we never panicked and we always felt fully in control. We just need to adapt quicker, not let the opposition get momentum. We need to get into the game defensively a bit quicker,” Pretorius said.

Defence was also the one area that Van Dyk highlighted as needing attention.

“We weren’t as pleased with the defending as we wanted to be, we weren’t quite in the positions we wanted to be and we allowed Malawi too much space. Especially our attackers, they need to be tighter on their opposite numbers. That is something we need to work on,” Van Dyk said.

Proteas star Tazmin Brits will make her debut for the DP World Lions Ladies team this weekend as #ThePrideOfJozi look to continue their impressive start to the season in the Gauteng derby with the Fidelity Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Brits was signed from South-Western Districts by the DP World Lions in the off-season and is coming off an outstanding T20 World Cup, where she was the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer behind captain Laura Wolvaardt.

Apart from being a world-class opening batter, the 33-year-old Brits is also a prolific run-scorer at domestic level and her presence in our DP World Lions team could provide that little bit extra that takes our Pride from being runners-up in both the 50-over and T20 competitions last season, to champions.

So far this season, #ThePrideOfJozi have enjoyed two bonus point wins in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series, while they have won one and lost one of their T20 games.

The batting has largely been led by the middle and lower-order, with the top-order getting starts but so far not converting. Brits and her enormous experience and ability could well change that.

“Now that the Proteas have been back for a while, Tazmin will be joining us and that will be good for our top-order,” coach Shaun Pretorius said. “Hopefully they will now fire. They’ve had a bit of a slump, but we support them and we know they are motivated to build a way through this passage of form.

“The middle and lower-order have been really good, but imagine the freedom they could play with with a good foundation up top. We just need to make sure we take care of that phase, get through the first 10 overs and not allow any soft dismissals. The number of wickets we’re losing is a bit concerning,” Pretorius said.

A Jukskei Derby is always a massive match for DP World Lions Cricket and Pretorius said the Ladies camp is buzzing ahead of their visit to SuperSport Park, especially since the men’s team beat the Titans twice last week to win the CSA T20 Challenge.

“I’m a bit of a nervous man,” Pretorius chuckled, “because the men have set the tone with two wins of note against the Titans. They will also have Proteas back and we don’t look down on teams who are losing, especially if they’re at the bottom because then they will be very hungry and you never know when they will click.

“For us, it’s very important we make sure we execute properly and win the different phases of the game. We’ve had good execution of our plans so far and I’m definitely happy with our performances, but there are still areas for us to improve on, especially in the T20,” Pretorius said.

The Titans are currently situated in fourth place on the Pro50 table and are fifth in the T20 standings. So, playing at home, they will be desperate to turn things around against their arch-rivals.

Our DP World Lions will be without SA U19 stars Fay Cowling, Karabo Meso and Diara Ramlakan, who are currently in Pretoria excelling against the Irish U19s, for Saturday’s 50-over match, but Pretorius will see where they are in terms of energy levels for Sunday’s HollywoodBets Pro20 Series game.

Our DP World Lions were able to find both their winning form and a ready-made replacement for new Proteas leg-spinner Nqaba Peter as they won both their weekend home matches in the CSA T20 Challenge, with Junaid Dawood collecting a haul of eight wickets against the Warriors and the Dolphins.

Having spearheaded #ThePrideOfJozi’s charge to the title last season, young Peter has deservedly found his way into the national set-up. But after a tough opening encounter for both him and the team against the Titans, Dawood stepped up superbly this weekend when given the chance to emerge from the shadows.

The 28-year-old destroyed the Warriors’ batting line-up with five for 30, the second-best ever CSA T20 Challenge figures at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, as our DP World Lions secured a bonus point victory by 62 runs on Friday night. Dawood was then instrumental in the nine-run win over the Dolphins on Sunday, helping to trigger a middle-order collapse as he took three for 22.

Figures of eight overs, eight for 52 are an outstanding weekend’s work, and Dawood’s success is once again an indication of the healthy pipeline that DP World Lions cricket enjoys at the moment.

Chasing 157 for victory, the Dolphins were in good shape on 48 for one in the seventh over, but Dawood then deceived key batsman Marques Ackerman (32) and had him stumped by the lightning-quick gloves of Wandile Makwetu.

Codi Yusuf then got Jon-Jon Smuts (1) and Bradley Porteous (0) out with successive deliveries, and an outstanding hat-trick ball just went over off-stump, having completely squared-up Andile Simelane.

Dawood then removed Tshepang Dithole (26) and Simelane (1) to reduce the Dolphins to 81 for six in the 13^th over.

But the return of opener Khaya Zondo, who had retired hurt in the fourth over, to partner captain Prenelan Subrayen, ensured the visitors were not out of the contest as they added 52 off 34 balls. Our DP World Lions had 19 to defend in the final over and Evan Jones held his nerve after his first two deliveries went to the boundary, getting Zondo out for 28 and conceding just one more run.

Young left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka enjoyed more success as he took two for 24 in his four overs, while Yusuf also had a fine evening with two for 24 in his ration of overs.

There was more good news in the depth department when our DP World Lions batted first after winning the toss as Josh Richards, coming in for Reeza Hendricks, who had flown overnight to Abu Dhabi to replace injured Proteas captain and #ThePrideOfJozi superstar Temba Bavuma, laid a good platform with an assured 38 off 32 balls.

Delano Potgieter (32 not out off 29 balls) and Evan Jones, who monstered four sixes in his 29 not out off just 10 deliveries, then piled more misery on to the Dolphins bowlers at the death, adding 42 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket partnership, off just 23 balls. That took the Lions to 156 for five in their 20 overs, a competitive total on a slowish pitch on which taking pace off brought dividends for the bowlers.

There was more pace in the pitch on Friday night and our DP World Lions produced a magnificent batting display, again after winning the toss, plundering 239 for four, their highest ever total in the competition.

Makwetu received a dreadful blow to the helmet from an accidental Siya Plaatjie beamer, which seemed to inspire the wicketkeeper/batsman as he exploded into action, going from a sedate 23 off 29 balls to a dazzling 55 off 41 deliveries, including five sixes.

Hendricks showed why the Proteas wanted him as he cruised to a classy 41 off 26 balls, hitting three sixes, the second-wicket pair setting the scene for a big finish as they added 75 in seven overs.

And what a finish it was!

Delano Potgieter, who was promoted up the order, smashed 36 off just 15 deliveries, and then captain Mitchell van Buuren and Connor Esterhuizen wowed the crowd with their unbeaten partnership of 87 in just four-and-a-half overs, clobbering eight sixes between them.

Van Buuren scored 41 not out off 16 balls and Esterhuizen showed why he has been entrusted with finishing duties this season, lashing 40 not out off 17 deliveries.

It was a total our DP World Lions defended with ease as they restricted the Warriors to 177 for six.

Maphaka (4-0-29-1) produced a top-class display with the new ball, claiming a key wicket when he bowled Warriors captain Matthew Breetzke (1) with a beauty, and Tshepo Moreki (4-0-27-0) was an excellent partner up front.

It was the leg-spin of Dawood that had the fans all a-twitter thereafter though, as he claimed the other five wickets to fall.

A thrilling weekend of action at the DP World Wanderers Stadium has ensured that our Pride all have shining smiles as they prepare for Wednesday’s visit to Bloemfontein to take on the Knights.