South Africa’s Test captain, Temba Bavuma, recently voiced his frustration regarding the limited number of Test matches his team has played in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle.
Bavuma expressed concern over the Proteas’ participation in only four matches so far, emphasizing the need for a greater number of Test matches like the Big Three — India, Australia and England.
South Africa are currently sitting in seventh position in the WTC standings, having won only one Test out of four.
It’s worth noting that Australia and England have played 12 Tests so far, while India have played nine in the current cycle.
“It’s a challenge that’s not necessarily unique to us and probably something that all the teams outside the big three face. It feels like we’re starting again and again as a team,” Bavuma said.
“You can hear in terms of the conversations there’s a lot of reminding ourselves of a philosophy, how we want to play and basically what our blueprint is to winning.”
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Bavuma also highlighted that South Africa is not the only team as other teams are also facing a similar situation. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also played four matches, while Pakistan have played five.
“It’s nothing that is unique to us as a South African team. The challenge is we’ve just got to make it work with what we have. We don’t use it as an excuse,” he added.
“I think there’s definitely a lot of excitement from the guys and we’d like to focus on that excitement more than all the other uncontrollables.”
South Africa are scheduled to play eight more Test matches in the current WTC cycle. They are currently gearing up for a two-match Test series against West Indies, starting from August 7.
South Africa Test squad for West Indies series
Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne
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