The Proteas’ two upcoming World Cup warm-up matches will be without ODI captain Temba Bavuma, which is a significant event for Cricket South Africa.
As a warm-up for the major competition, South Africa will play matches against Afghanistan and New Zealand on September 29 and October 2, respectively. They won’t have skipper Temba Bavuma services though, since he had to return home for personal reasons.
Although Temba Bavuma will only be away for the warm-up matches, South Africa may suffer as a result of his absence.
Only time will tell whether or not he will be available for the World Cup. In addition, it was revealed that South Africa will be captained by superstar batter Aiden Markram in Bavuma’s absence. In order to inform their followers, Cricket South Africa posted the news on Twitter.
Update on the #CWC23 team A Proteas ODI Temba Bavuma, the captain, will leave for home owing to family obligations. Markram will captain the team in his place for the two warm-up games against Afghanistan and New Zealand.
🟢#CWC23 TEAM UPDATE 🟡
🏏Proteas ODI Captain Temba Bavuma will travel back home due to family reasons
Bavuma misses 2️⃣ #CWC23 warm-up matches
🆚️Afghanistan 🇦🇫
🆚️New Zealand 🇳🇿Markram will captain in his absence #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/iC3PwcSPrY
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) September 28, 2023
South Africa returns after a string of assured victories.
South Africa recently trounced Australia in a five-match ODI series, so the team will be feeling very confident going into the World Cup 2023. South Africa was outstanding in the remaining matches after dropping the first two games; they won three of the last four games to win the series.
On Saturday, October 7, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the Proteas will play their first World Cup match against Sri Lanka after their warm-up matches. Following several outstanding victories, the team will be hoping for a similar performance early in the World Cup to get off to a good start in the major competition. It might be intriguing to observe how the side performs without Bavuma’s assistance.