He guided South Africa to their first trophy after 27 years
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma rewrote history books with his incredible winning streak which culminated in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 title on Saturday at the Lord’s.
Bavuma who has now captained South Africa in 10 Tests and led them to the final with seven wins a row, now has the most enviable record as a Test skipper with nine wins and a draw.
No other captain in Test history has won nine of their first 10 matches and stayed undefeated.
The closest are Percy Chapman of England with nine wins and one loss when he was appointed captain in 1926 and Australia’s Warwick Armstrong with eight wins and two draws when he took over in 1920.
South Africa ended a wait of 27 years to win an ICC trophy as they beat Australia by five wickets.
Bavuma, who is now the second Proteas captain after the Late Hansie Cronje to lift a major trophy, is the only captain with such a win record in the post World War II era.
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Legendary Australia captain Ricky Pointing is the only skipper from 21st century to come close to Bavuma with eight wins, one loss and one draw.
Bavuma, who took over the reins as the red-ball captain from Dean Elgar in February 2023, has scored 911 runs during this period, including ending a seven-year wait for a hundred against West Indies with a 172 in Johannesburg.
From 17 innings as a captain, Bavuma averages a superb 56 and has scored three hundreds and five fifties.
In the final, Bavuma led from the front with 66 in the second innings as well as forging a 147-run partnership with Aiden Markram as South Africa chased a target of 282 within three session to win the match.
Kagiso Rabada was the star for the Proteas with 5-51 in the first innings as Australia were bowled out for 212. The star pacer claimed 4-59 in the second innings.
Opener Aiden Markram was awarded Player Of the Match for his 136 in the second innings.
