Proteas eager to start Champions Trophy build-up against Afghanistan

Playing their first one-day international (ODI) games in nine months, stand-in captain Aiden Markram says the Proteas will use their three-match series against Afghanistan this week to start their build-up towards next year’s Champions Trophy tournament.

Markram was set to replace Temba Bavuma as captain (after the national team’s regular ODI skipper withdrew due to illness) for the first match of this week’s campaign in Sharjah on Wednesday (2pm SA time).

He was gearing up to lead an under-strength squad which was missing multiple senior players, but Markram was confident they could put up a fight against Afghanistan, the fastest rising side in international cricket.

“We’re here to grow the squad and grow players, but having said that, we’re still here to win games of cricket for South Africa against tough opposition,” Markram said.

“So we’ve got no doubt this is going to be a really big challenge but that also excites us and it’s a fantastic opportunity for us as a full squad.”

Looking ahead

With a new-look squad, Markram said it gave the Proteas an opportunity to experiment with new players ahead of the Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in February and March 2025, where they had been drawn in the same group as Afghanistan.

“We don’t have too many ODI series left before the Champions Trophy, so each series is important to us as a team to get as close as we can to peaking at the right time,” he said.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity against a really good team, and the conditions at the Champions Trophy might look similar to these conditions (in Sharjah), so it’s an important series for us to take as much info as we can out of it and keep moving in the right direction.”