Temba Bavuma named as new South Africa Test Captain, leaves T20I Role

Bavuma, who has been leading South Africa in the T20I format, has given up his role as the T20 captain following his captaincy selection for the Test format.

Bavuma has taken over the role from Dean Elgar, who has led the Proteas in 15 Tests in the last couple of years. Under Elgar’s leadership, South Africa won a Test series against India and did pretty well, but their last tour to Australia was a disastrous one as the Proteas fell to a 2-0 series defeat.

South Africa, currently ranked 4th in Tests, will now be led by the 32-year-old and his first assignment will be the upcoming two-match Test series at home against West Indies, which starts from February 28.

The first Test will be played in Centurion, followed by the second in Johannesburg. Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe welcomed Bavuma as the skipper of the Test team and says the board has all the trust in Bavuma and believes he will take the team forward.

“Cricket South Africa would like to welcome Temba as the new captain of the Proteas Men’s national team,” Nkwe said.

“He is a player that has vast captaincy experience both at the domestic level and on the international stage having led both the ODI and T20I teams since March 2021 when he was appointed,” he said.

“We trust he will deliver on all our expectations and help carry the team forward after some excellent work by his predecessor Dean during the same period. At the same time I would like to sincerely thank Dean for all his commitment to the role over the past two years. He helped the team navigate through some stormy waters and put them in good position on the ICC World Test Championship table,” Nkwe concluded.

South Africa have had a long struggle in the Test format since their series win over India in the early part of 2022. Since then, the Proteas have lost series against England and Australia, while they managed a 1-1 draw against New Zealand. Their solitary Test series victory after the India series came against Bangladesh (2-0).