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It is an exciting time to be a Proteas fan, with a strong crop of youngsters coming through the system, which bodes well for the future.
Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen are part of an exciting crop of young stars that will be aiming to bring success to the Proteas in the coming years. Picture: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Things seem to be finally looking up for the Proteas after a difficult couple of years and I for one am starting to get excited again.
Proteas cricket fans have endured many heartbreaks since the return from the international wilderness in 1991, and since then have won only one major tournament, the Champions Trophy, back in 1998.
However, they were for many years considered one of the best teams in international cricket, across multiple formats, only for them to underperform and disappoint on the biggest stages.
They then lost a number of stalwarts over a short period of time, including stars like Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Faf du Plessis, and many of the players coming through were just not up to the same standards.
Despite having so much talent, even during the golden years when the likes of Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith and Makhaya Ntini still played, the Proteas were unable to win any major tournaments.
The current crop of Proteas who have been in action for the last five or so years have not had the same expectations put on them as the previous generations, but despite that have exceeded what was predicted.
Knockout run
Over the past three years the Proteas have made the knockouts of every major tournament they have played in, reaching the 50-over World Cup semis in 2023, the T20 World Cup final in 2024, and are now in the semifinals of the 2025 Champions Trophy.
They have also made the final of the World Test Championship, and will battle it out against Australia at Lord’s later this year.
What is most exciting is that even though a number of the current crop are nearing the end of their careers, some electrifying talent is coming through, and that will hopefully lead to an amazing future for the Proteas.
They already boast a number of exhilarating youngsters in the system, such as Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee, while more experienced guys like Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder still have plenty of years left in them.
Thrilling youngsters like Kwena Maphaka, Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Matthew Breetzke and Nqaba Peter are also showing what they can do, and if they can keep developing the future is certainly bright for South African cricket.
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