On Sunday, September 7, the South Africa National Cricket Team suffered a massive blow as their skipper, Temba Bavuma, suffered an injury.
Temba Bavuma got injured during the third and final ODI match of the series against the England National Cricket Team at The Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Temba Bavuma suffers a left calf strain
South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first in the match. They didn’t have a good outing as the English batting unit came out all guns blazing with nothing to lose and piled up a massive score of 414/5 on the board.
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The score looked daunting, and the Proteas were haunted when they found out that the skipper, Temba Bavuma, was down with an injury.
Midway through the first innings, Bavuma left the field, and it was found that he suffered a left calf strain. This is his second in-match injury in the last few months, as he had also injured his hamstring during the ICC World Test Championship final in June against Australia.
South Africa would be concerned about their injury-prone captain as they are set to start their new ICC World Test Championship cycle in five weeks’ time.
Notably, Temba Bavuma has suffered numerous injuries throughout his career and only featured in two of the three matches of the recent ODI series against Australia to manage his workload. He would be looking to improve his fitness if he wishes to do well in the ICC World Cup 2027 at home.
It wasn’t polished from South Africa – Shaun Pollock
South African bowlers were taken to cleaners by English batters in the first innings, and the players also looked sloppy on the field.
The wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith slammed 62 runs to take England off to a flying start, and Jos Buttler finished the innings on a high with his explosive 62-run innings.
In the middle overs, young all-rounder Jacob Bethell smashed 110 runs, and Joe Root slammed his 19th ODI hundred. Speaking on Sky Sports during the mid-innings break, Shaun Pollock said that the Proteas didn’t look polished. He said:
“It didn’t look like the intensity wasn’t there. Two catches went down and there were 19 wides – it wasn’t polished from South Africa.
“Yes, they haven’t got Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Marco Jansen with the ball but you would expect the standards to be better.”
We’ve been playing some good cricket – Temba Bavuma
Speaking earlier at the toss, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said that they have been playing good cricket and the group has been working together nicely. He said:
“We are going to bowl first, early morning game and there could be a bit in the pitch. Two changes for us – Wiaan Mulder is back after his illness. We’ve been playing some good cricket, have had a nice feeling of working together “
Meanwhile, Harry Brook said that they just want to be aggressive with bat and ball. He said:
“We would have bowled first as well. Just rotation as Saqib misses out, just be aggressive with both bat and ball. Looks like a good wicket, would have fancied our chances of chasing.”
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