It’s been a year of massive progress for the Proteas cricket team, both in Test cricket and the ‘moer’ en soek’ or T20I format as it’s more commonly referred.
During the T20 World Cup, there was renewed hope that this Proteas side would not only be the first to make a Cricket World Cup final, but also walk away with the crown.
As it turned out, Proteas fans would have to be content with a silver medal as they stumbled at the final hurdle.
South Africa were beaten by seven runs by India in the trophy match in Bridgetown on June 29. It was the only defeat of the tournament for the Proteas, after eight wins on the trot led them to the final.
That T20 World Cup final
While ardent fans will recite like parrots that the Proteas failed after needing 30 off 30 with six wickets in hand to win their first-ever Cricket World Cup title, and therefore it was a choke, there’s a lot more to it than that.
I went into great detail about that final here: Why the Proteas didn’t choke … but were they also cheated with THAT catch?
Still, it was further than the men’s Proteas team had ever made it before and that was significant progress.
Since the T20 World Cup, limited over coach Rob Walter has experimented with his squads in a big way. The approach has yielded mixed results with a One-Day International (ODI) series defeat to Afghanistan, a drawn T20I series with Ireland away from home. There was also the 3-0 T20I series whitewash they suffered against the West Indies after the World Cup which also stung.
More recently, the Proteas hosted India in a four-match T20I series as South Africa crashed to a 3-1 defeat.
While players like David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen continue to form part of a formidable core of the batting lineup, it’s been good to see players like Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen producing on a more consistent basis as their place in the team seems set in stone for years to come.
On the Test front, it’s also Stubbs and Jansen that have begun to form vital cogs in the Proteas team.
Stubbs, in particular, was until recently seen as more of a limited overs batsman because of his innovative, even unorthodox strokeplay. I personally think that Stubbs, due to the influence of playing hockey at a high level before focussing on cricket, plays the best reverse sweep in world cricket today.
For Stubbs, it’s not even a risky shot as he plays it so well and seldom gets out playing the stroke that many cricket purist still condemn.
But a player like Stubbs epitomises the new breed of Proteas cricketers, innovative, aggressive and confident in their abilities. Most crucially, he can produce in pressure situations. Just like he did in the recent Bangladesh Test series in October when he scored his first Test century in his fifth match in the format.
South Africa won that series against hosts Bangladesh to keep their dream alive of making the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June next year at Lord’s.
Stubbs would go on to bring up his second century in the format in the very next Test South Africa played, against Sri Lanka in Durban at the end of November.
Jansen also starred for South Africa as he picked up incredible figures of 7/13 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 42 in the first innings. It laid the platform for Stubbs and returning skipper Temba Bavuma who scored his third Test century in the match, as South Africa romped to a 233-run victory.
Jansen for good measure picked up another four wickets in the fourth innings, for incredible match figures of 11/86.
While much of the focus will be on winning the WTC final in 2025, if they qualify, the Proteas will also have the small matter of competing in the ICC Champions Trophy running from February 19 to March 9 in Pakistan.
It will be the first time the tournament has been hosted since 2017, and it remains the one ICC senior men’s trophy that the Proteas have lifted. South Africa won the inaugural event in 1998, and perhaps the class of 2025 will fancy their chances at rekindling some of their former glory.