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In 2001, when Temba Bavuma was 11 years old, his school magazine asked him where he saw himself in 15 years. He answered, "...shaking [then-president Thabo] Mbeki's hand, congratulating me for making the South African side." He was right. He had made the national team and scored his first century by 2016, becoming the first Black South African to do so. Five years later, he was named the white-ball captain of South Africa, again the first to lead the side.
Two years later, Test captaincy followed, another first for someone from his background. Fast forward to 2025, Bavuma was front and centre at the iconic balcony of Lord’s to lift the ICC World Test Championship. It was the first time South Africa could be called Champions of the World, and in the process, Temba became the first South African to captain his team to the coveted title. Not black, white, or coloured, just the first South African.
Temba’s story cannot be told without his roots. Born during the Apartheid in the township of Langa, his destiny could be assumed at birth. Langa is the oldest township in South Africa, established in the 1920s, uprooting the native Black population from their homes and segregating them into underdeveloped, congested areas with restrictions on movement. The township saw numerous massacres during the Apartheid and after it. It was in these circumstances that Temba’s grandmother gave him his name, meaning ‘hope’ in Xhosa.
He got his start in cricket after receiving scholarships at two of South Africa’s most prestigious, predominantly white schools. By the time he made his debut, Cricket South Africa (CSA) was implementing ‘Transformation’ targets to increase the participation of cricketers of colour in the national setup, which helped him become a regular in the national setup.
In 2023, Shukri Conrad was named coach of the Test side. Not exactly a household name in the world of cricket, he was a talented first-class cricketer in his day who could never make the national side in the Apartheid era. Only the second non-white coach of the Test side, he and Bavuma were tasked with changing the culture of the Proteas, not just on the field but also in the dressing room.
The team won seven out of eight games, making the final of the WTC. They were accused of taking an easy route to the final and never given a chance against the overwhelming favourites, Australia. But come Day 1, Rabada ripped the Australian batters apart, taking a fifer. Bavuma scored a gritty 36, but saw his team trailing to the Aussies by 74 runs after the second innings.
Here, Shukri Conrad’s coaching brilliance made the difference. The biggest talking point when the South African team was announced was the inclusion of Lungi Ngidi over Dane Paterson and Corbin Bosch. Lungi, a Black South African, was questioned for being a quota filler, a transformation target, a token, anything but a cricketer.
Commentators and trolls alike were quick to criticise after he had a poor first innings with the ball, with comparisons being drawn to Vernon Philander’s inclusion in the 2015 semi-final over Sean Abbott and Ashwell Prince in the 2007 semi-final. On both occasions, two players of colour were single-handedly forced to take the blame for being “quota products” despite the overall team’s failure.
However, this was a different team, with a different captain, a different coach and a different culture. The momentum built by Rabada was seized by Ngidi, starting with the dismissal of Steve Smith, followed by Beau Webster, and finally knocking the stumps of the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins, leaving Australia 73-7 in the blink of an eye. This wasn’t Ngidi’s first experience with racism in cricket, as he faced widespread backlash from white South African cricketers for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Five years later, the son of two domestic workers who only entered cricket on a scholarship had given his country a fighting chance at a world title.
Australia managed to get to 207, setting South Africa a target of 282 to win the coveted title. Enter Markram and Bavuma. It was Conrad who had persisted with Markram despite his recent slump in form, averaging 37 in the past two years. Having got out on a duck in the first innings, he repaid his coach’s faith with a match-winning century, complemented by the skipper’s 66, as they led their country to their first Test Championship and second ICC trophy.
When Cricket South Africa announced their transformation goals in 2016, they set the goal of creating a national team that accurately represents the rainbow nation. Nine years later, three Black cricketers had played match-winning roles, all worthy of being Player of the Match as much as Aiden Markram. What began as a radical idea of ‘forcing’ equality in an unequal society had finally led to results. The result was a first-ever World Championship for South Africa, something that had never happened in the pre-quota era.
For those who have closely followed South African cricket since the turn of the century, this victory is nothing short of a Shakespearean adaptation of the David against Goliath narrative in an Apartheid-ruled society. Before Temba came, the chosen few non-white cricketers who represented South Africa were never treated as equals. They briefly played for the team but were never backed like their white counterparts. And those who did everything right at local levels were never picked by the selectors, not for a lack of talent but due to not belonging to the ‘meritorious’ race.
The non-white players who came close to playing for the Proteas were made to feel they were undeserving, unwelcome and there only due to their colour. The stories of Makhaya Ntini isolated by his white teammates, Mark Boucher calling his teammate of colour Paul Adams ‘brown s***’ and more came out. Boucher, along with Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, was accused of forming a ‘clique’ by several players of colour, who were left out for their white counterparts.
The ‘clique’ of players had become the management, with Graeme Smith being chosen as Director of Cricket, who appointed Boucher as coach in 2019. Then came the transformation. The year 2022 saw Enock Nkwe, a former first-class cricketer and the first Black South African to score a century on his debut, replace Smith as Director. Temba and Shukri took over the next year. Ashwell Prince, who once called the national team a ‘lonely place’, was now the batting coach.
There were three Black South Africans in the playing XI, but many more as coaches, management and in other team roles who could proudly represent the country in their respective roles. This victory was as much theirs as it was of the players, and yet, it took 30-odd years after the end of Apartheid to have a national team as diverse and equitable as the nation itself.
While historic on its own, this wasn’t the first success story after the implementation of quotas in South African sports. The Transformation prototype started in South Africa to ensure sports are for all and not for the few, already proved successful in 2019 and again in 2023. The first Black captain of the Springboks, Siya Kolisi, led his team to back-to-back Rugby World Cups in four years with ‘quotas’—as many as the nation had won without them in the previous 32 years.
This victory belongs to the individuals. The individual Temba Bavuma, once judged for his height, race and background, is now the captain who has achieved what no one before him could. Shukri Conrad, who played with South African cricketers but could never be one himself because of racist laws, led the country to its first world title. Kagiso Rabada, undoubtedly one of South Africa’s greatest ever, could never have played for the country until a generation ago. Lungi Ngidi was doubted and ridiculed throughout the game until he changed it on its head by himself. Ashwell Prince, once blamed for ‘quotas’ costing the country a World Cup, is now a World Champion.
There are more such individuals who dedicated their lives to cricket but were denied the honour of representing their nation by a system that was designed to keep them out. While those players will remain unknown, and their potential unacknowledged, this victory has inspired a new, hopeful generation of young South Africans, of all colours and backgrounds, to change the world, to “unite people in a way that little else does,” as Nelson Mandela once dreamed it would.
Sankul Sonawane is a student activist based in Pune, India. His work focuses on social justice through an anti-caste lens. He has previously written for The Times of India, The Quint and more. Views expressed here are the author’s own.