Proteas hoping to ‘go a step further’ and win Champions Trophy, says Bavuma

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma says that his team are hoping to continue improving on their recent strong form in major tournaments and go one better, as they target winning the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

The Proteas were the first winners of the competition back in 1998 and that remains their only major international trophy, despite massive expectations having been placed on the team in the years since.

They have, however, impressed over the past few years, making the 50-over World Cup semifinals in 2023, and the T20 World Cup final in 2024, and they want to continue moving forward.

With South Africa also hosting the 50-over World Cup in 2027, it would help boost interest in cricket in the country if the Proteas could win the Champions Trophy, although Bavuma said that the guys weren’t thinking that far ahead.

‘A step further’

“We would like to build on our performances. From the way we performed in the 2023 50-over World Cup, and even in 2024, I know it’s a different format, but we pretty much had the same guys representing there,” explained Bavuma.

“So it’s just a matter of performing and finding a way to go a step further in terms of our journey. 2027, I think for some of the older guys, is maybe looking a bit too far ahead. I think you will hear a lot of guys speaking about taking it series by series and season by season.

“But really for us it is to just keep building on our performances. I think as the Proteas team, both men and women, we have put in a lot of good performances, making semifinals and finals (over the past few years).

“So we would like to add to that momentum that we as Proteas teams have been able to achieve.”

Champions Trophy

The Proteas open their Champions Trophy campaign against Afghanistan on Friday and Bavuma said he hoped that the whole country would be behind them, and that they would try to gain that support by performing on the field.

“We would love to (have everyone’s support). I can’t confirm if we have everyone’s backing. From our side we will commit to put our best foot forward as a team and hopefully through our performances we can make our people happy back home,” said Bavuma.

“We have a warm-up game (on Monday) and that becomes another step forward in getting us ready (for the tournament). We are still within our preparation phase, so I trust that come Friday we will be as ready as we can be.”

Following their opener the Proteas play two more pool matches, against Australia next week Tuesday and England next Saturday, with the top two teams from pool B then progressing to the competition semifinals.