South Africa’s Temba Bavuma runs on the field during the second T20 international cricket match between South Africa and England at Boland Park stadium in Paarl, South Africa, on November 29, 2020. (Photo by Rodger BOSCH / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
Temba Bavuma’s Proteas captaincy dream comes true
Temba Bavuma’s dream of captaining the Proteas has come true signalling a new focus ahead of three ICC tournaments in three years.
South Africa’s Temba Bavuma runs on the field during the second T20 international cricket match between South Africa and England at Boland Park stadium in Paarl, South Africa, on November 29, 2020. (Photo by Rodger BOSCH / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
Temba Bavuma has been named as South Africa’s Limited Overs captain in a move the 30-year-old categorised as a dream come true.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced his appointment as Limited Overs skipper on Thursday, 4 March 2021. He replaces Quinton de Kock who surrenders the captaincy in all three formats. Dean Elgar will lead the Test outfit.
Temba Bavuma to lead South African trophy charge
Bavuma will lead the Proteas in the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups as well as the ODI World Cup in 2023.
“Captaining the Proteas has been a dream of mine for many years as those closest to me would know,” Bavuma said in a statement issued to the press.
Born in Langa Cape Town and enduring much to make his dream of playing for the Proteas come true, Bavuma now has the opportunity to be the vanguard of a new era in South African cricket.
“This is one of the greatest honours of my life so far and I am looking forward to picking up where Quinny (de Kock) has left off in leading the team into the new culture that we have developed and continue to work on,” Bavuma added.
Bavuma has been chosen as the man to lead the Proteas quest to end their ICC tournament trophy drought. Despite numerous agonising close-calls the Proteas have never progressed beyond the semi-finals at a World Cup in either format.
“The responsibility of captaining one’s country is not one I take lightly, and I am looking forward to this new challenge and journey with Dean in the Test cricket format, as well as leading the team to not just one, but three ICC World Cups in the very near future,” Bavuma concluded.
From Limited Overs late bloomer to skipper
Bavuma’s Limited Overs International career has only recently taken off, he is named skipper with just 14 internationals to his name in the white-ball formats. He made his T20I debut in 2019, five years after his Test breakthrough.
Early in his career Bavuma was pigeonholed as a Test player, and even a hundred on ODI debut wasn’t enough to dispel this perception.
Domestically Bavuma has close to 2000 T20 runs to his name and a respectable average of 32.39. He recently captained the Lions to the T20 Challenge title at Kingsmead.
