Captain Temba Bavuma on South Africa's historic World test championship final over Australia
14/06/2025
Lords Cricket Ground, London, UK
14/06/2025
Lords Cricket Ground, London, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00You've done it, man. Well done.
00:05Bit of a soft one. What's it like having that trophy in front of you right now?
00:10What does it feel like?
00:12Yeah, I think really in probably a couple of days it will really settle.
00:16I liked how I was introduced there by Spurguise, that sounded quite nice.
00:21But yeah, the word that comes to mind is special.
00:26Special for this group, special for myself, for the country.
00:32I think, I mean, I'm not a big rugby fan, but I watch the rugby guys
00:38and I think the biggest thing I admire about them is with their success,
00:42how they've kind of gone about and embraced what being South African actually means.
00:47South Africa, we're unique in a lot of ways.
00:51Our present and future is shaped by our past.
00:57And I think the way that they've gone about it to capture the heart of everyone,
01:01you know, has really made us love them.
01:03And I think us within the cricket, that's something that we've spoken about,
01:07to really do something special.
01:09So, I mean, that word special, I keep using it.
01:11I think for the country, it's a chance for us to rejoice in something,
01:15for us to kind of forget about our issues and really come together.
01:20And I think for the group of players, I mean, there were a lot of doubters
01:25as to the route that we took to get to this point.
01:28But I do think the way that we played would have wiped all of that out.
01:35Yeah, special at the moment seems to be the word.
01:38Tim, we've all been, I think, or most of us here have been in situations with you like this,
01:43where the theme is hope or belief or we can do it and all of these things.
01:49But we're here today to talk about an achievement.
01:52How does that change things?
01:55Yeah.
01:56I mean, as players, I think of the senior players, myself, Aidan, who was just here,
02:02KG, Kesh, this is what connects us, you know.
02:06This is what we've always wanted to do.
02:09We recognize that the sun shines on us and we have the responsibility
02:13of doing something that has never been done before.
02:16So I heard it's 26 or 27 years, something like that.
02:20So to be a part of that history is massive in a lot of ways.
02:26And we hope that this is the start of something.
02:31There could be more.
02:33There could be more trophies.
02:34So, yeah, I think it's massive.
02:37It's massive trophies, yeah.
02:39Brett?
02:40Temba, just the last few moments of that game.
02:44As you guys got closer, the camera kept panning into the dressing room.
02:49You just sat with your hand over your face, especially after Kyle Werner attempted the RAM.
02:54Can you just take us through those moments?
02:55It didn't look like you smiled until the winning run was scored.
02:58Yeah, it was emotional.
03:01I think this time, at least, I managed to watch the runs.
03:04I liked the last time.
03:06Quite tense as well.
03:08I think as much as, I mean, even when we got it to 10 runs, you almost wanted to still keep it on that edge that anything can happen.
03:17I mean, the belief was obviously there, but it was hard to kind of accept the fact that we're close to doing something that's never been done before.
03:27And Kyle Werner made it quite dramatic there at the end.
03:32Bettingham showed a bit more calmness.
03:35And yeah, I think when he scored the runs, I kind of had my head in my hands.
03:41I guess just trying to embrace and acknowledge what we've just done.
03:47I think what, yeah, I think in that moment, kind of thought of, you know, the experiences that I've had in the last couple of years.
03:58It hasn't been easy.
04:00It's not easy being captain of South Africa.
04:04And, you know, all the, I guess all the sacrifices, all the disappointment at that moment really feels, it feels worth it.
04:14You know, when you're going through it all, you know, giving up is always an option.
04:19It's always there.
04:20It's always there at the back of your mind, but something kind of wills you on.
04:24And I think for me, it was, it was that moment there to be recognized more than just a black African cricketer,
04:33but to be seen as someone who's, who's done something that the country has wanted.
04:38So I think that's something that I'll definitely walk around with my, with my chest out.
04:43Um, and again, I can hope that it inspires, it continues to inspire our, our country.
04:50We've got the dosis again.
04:52Uh, Timba, last night Ashul was telling us about, you know, the decision you made to, to continue batting.
04:56And, um, Aiden, you know, insisting basically that you were there with him.
05:00Can you tell us about the hamstring?
05:02You know, what was the experience of batting with that like?
05:04How did it feel?
05:05And, and what made you want to go out there and just, you know, want to get the job done?
05:11I didn't want to think of another, another option, to be honest.
05:14Um, I didn't want to consider myself not being there with, with Aiden during that moment.
05:19It was a key moment within, within the game.
05:22Um, yes, I wasn't at a hundred percent, um, fitness, but I felt that I was, I was good enough to still do the job at least to, to support Aiden.
05:32Um, it was, yeah, it was a tough decision.
05:36I mean, I can't not think of the 2023 World Cup where it was a similar type of, of incidents, um, incident.
05:44Um, but I think again, it was me just back in my gut.
05:48Um, that's what I felt at that point in time.
05:51Um, went against advice from, from management, but I guess at the end of the day, I was willing to, to take whatever comes with it.
06:01Um, and I think also getting the comfort from confidence and a guy like Aiden, you know, kind of said, look, we need to be there at that point in time.
06:10Um, if we can be there till the end of the day, um, the game is, is, is, is, is strongly in our favor.
06:16So, yeah, it was very much a, an instinctive call, very much an egotistical call.
06:22Um, but I was happy to deal with whatever consequence that came with it.
06:26Um, Timba, um, when you were little kidded, you know,
06:31in Lange, do you ever believe that you would be sitting with the ICC World Test Mace as a world champion at Lourdes?
06:37And to double up on that, uh, kids in South Africa now, all over, do they, not just in Lange, but everywhere,
06:45do they now look up at Timba and say, this is what we can achieve?
06:49I mean, think about, think about those days.
06:53I mean, I never pictured myself playing here at Lourdes.
06:57Um, I could only fantasize about it.
06:59Um, that's what really was, um, reachable, reach, reachable for us.
07:04Um, being captain, that was never, that was never a dream of mine.
07:09Um, and now to have this opportunity now to be in this position where, you know, you've, you've won the Mace for, for the country.
07:20Um, yeah, I don't think you can really write those type of stories.
07:24Um, that's for, that's for the man above.
07:27Um, I think for me, it was always about just the passion of the game.
07:33Um, that's been my biggest thing.
07:34That's been my biggest driver.
07:36Um, and I hope it can inspire a lot of people, not just in our country, um, but all the other, all the other nations as well.
07:45Uh, I know that a lot of the other nations, the so-called smaller nations would have been supporting us, um, in, in, in our quest.
07:53And, you know, as a team, our responsibility is always to be as competitive as possible.
07:59We want to play more, we want to play more test cricket.
08:02We want to play against the bigger nations.
08:04So I think this will go a long way in, in, I guess, making us a lot more attractive and also the so-called smaller nations.
08:12So, yeah, inspiring.
08:15I think inspiring from, from a lot of angles.
08:17Uh, Temba, just to follow up on that, I mean, I don't think it, as it stands, you've got a test match at home, um, immediately following, you know, or the, the home season after, after this one.
08:29Would you like there to be found a way for you to be able to as world champions and also about, I suppose, wanting to play more test series that are more than two matches?
08:38Yeah, we'd love to, we'd love to play as much cricket as we, as we can, especially the, the red ball.
08:43Um, I think the schedule, unfortunately, is what it is this year.
08:47Um, and we just have to, we have to deal with that.
08:50Um, yeah, we'd love to play a lot more cricket.
08:54Temba, was there, when you were out in the middle, was there a lot of chat from the Australian players sort of trying into, trying to get into your heads about South Africa's history and World Cups?
09:05And how did you and Aiden respond to that?
09:07Playing against Australia is a bit different, uh, in the last couple of years.
09:12They're not as, um, vocal out, out on the field.
09:16You know, they're still, they're still aggressive, um, through their body language, through, obviously, their, their skill, but there's not a lot of chatter.
09:23Um, of course, the, the tag of us being chokers, that came about, um, this morning, um, one of their players threw out the fact that, um, we could get pulled out for,
09:34or we could lose our eight wickets, um, in less than 60 runs.
09:38Um, I definitely, I definitely heard that.
09:40Um, but I think the chatter from Aiden and I, you know, Aiden kept using the word lock-in.
09:45After every over, let's keep locking in, um, let's give them nothing, you know.
09:49Um, after the first innings, um, from our batting and, and, from our batting and bowling, all we said as a team is that all we need is a snuff.
09:58Um, and once we got the snuff and we were done with our bowling innings, we were, we were hell-bent on not, on not giving away that, um, that advantage or that opportunity.
10:07So, yeah, not a, not a lot of chatter.
10:10Um, just one or two things that were, that were said.
10:15Timber, um, so much has been said about you in the past and just now.
10:20Just now, how much lighter do your shoulders feel knowing that now, no matter what he said, you've done this, you've achieved this, you've got the mace in front of you?
10:28Yeah, I, I don't think that can be taken away, right?
10:31Um, I think I would have won a couple of doubters if I could say.
10:37Um, like, like I said, it's, it's not, it's not an easy, it's not an easy job.
10:44Um, being, being captain of South Africa, it's not, it's not, it's not all smooth.
10:50Being in my, being in my shoes, if I, if I could say, um, yeah, it take, it takes, takes a little bit of crazy at times to, to, to, to, to kind of deal with everything that it comes.
11:02Um, but I think it's also a matter of just taking it within, within your stride.
11:06You know, it's not, yes, it can be burdensome, burdensome, um, but it's still somewhat of a privilege to, to kind of carry those type of expectations as well as, as well as pressure.
11:20Um, but yeah, I think what you said there at the beginning, I don't think they can take, they can take it away having someone who, who has finally gotten over the team in a final.
11:32Timber, uh, Aidan was just telling us about how he just popped over to the stand and had a beer with one of his school friends.
11:37I mean, judging, judging by the number of South Africans here, I imagine a lot of you guys will know a lot of guys out in the stands.
11:44I mean, is that the case? And what does that say about having the final in a country where so many fans can attend even in a neutral venue?
11:51Yeah, it was massive. I mean, we could, we could feel the energy coming from the fans. Um, there were a lot of South Africans out there in the fans, people who've flown over from South Africa.
12:00People obviously were also based here in London. Um, I think we all, I was giving about 10, 15 tickets a day to, to people.
12:08So we all kind of have, um, either relatives or, or, or friends who, who are within the stands. Um, I'm sure later on, depending on what state we are, we'll catch a beer with them.
12:18Um, but it's been, yeah, it's been phenomenal. Um, playing a final here at Lourdes, um, hearing songs that you're accustomed to back, back home in, back home in South Africa.
12:29And then for us to perform the way that, that, that we did. Um, I also think if you, if you're a sporting fan, if you're a cricketing fan, you've really gotten your money's worth with the type of cricket that was on show.
12:41Both teams were, it was kind of, um, in favor of the one, then it went to the other. Um, it was a proper entertainment, you know what I mean?
12:50The English, um, Ben Stokes and the way they talk about, they talk about entertain, entertainment. Um, I don't think there was anything short of that.
12:58Yeah.
12:59Tempo, Shukri said an interesting thing half an hour ago about your leadership.
13:03He said you're a very strong captain, but you lead from behind off the field and from in front on the field.
13:09Is that, is that, does that describe your leadership style to you?
13:13I'm not a person that speaks a lot. Um, yeah, I'm not a person that speaks a lot.
13:19Uh, I try to lead on what I do on the field.
13:22So I think our biggest chat coming up against Australia in this game was conviction.
13:28Whatever we do, let's just do it with conviction. Um, and at times I played maybe some indifferent shots, you know?
13:34Um, but that was me just trying to be, um, just trying to show conviction in whatever I did.
13:39And I'd like to think that that rubbed off on, on, on certain guys within, within the team.
13:46Um, but yeah, I think leading through a collective, identifying guys within the team, um, and allowing them to lead within the space.
13:55That's something I think that has allowed me to, to be a lot more successful as a, as, as a better.
14:01Um, but yeah, not a, not a big, not a big talker. Um, more, yeah, more about action.
14:10Uh, talking of which that six offcomings. Can you just have a word about that?
14:14Um, yeah, I told Shukri not to write me off in the white ball stuff. I can still hit 16.
14:18Kidding, kidding, kidding, kidding.
14:20Temba. Temba, can you just take us inside your thinking?
14:23During, uh, Australia's 10th wicket partnership, uh, yesterday, was there a bit of frustration that, uh, you know, you couldn't get them out?
14:28Or could you see that, you know, hang on, it's getting a bit easier to bat out here?
14:32A bit of both. Um, firstly, it was, it was frustration. Um, you know, the bowlers, the bowlers were trying. Um, bowlers were also tired at that time. Um, the wicket wasn't reacting as much. Um, and I think, yeah, we were almost running out of ideas as to what we can do.
14:51Fortunately, we were able to get the wicket. But I think, chatting to, to Asheville, we kind of said, you know, the wicket looks, looks good to bat on. Um, we kind of just need to knuckle down the end. And that's exactly how it played. Um, quite surprising that it changed so quickly like that. Um, first two days were tough for, tough for batting. Um, but I think, yeah, when we saw that partnership, I think the guys who experienced, you kind of take confidence in the fact that, you know, if you're going to get the wicket, you're going to get the wicket.
15:20And if, no, no, no disrespect, if Mitchell Stark can hang in for so long, then you kind of back yourself to, to do the same thing as well.
15:30Um, Timba, obviously this is all really fresh at the moment and experiencing this, but I mean, this has been such a, a focus for you, for the team, for South African cricket. And you look at the history and the heartbreak and everything that's built to this moment and you've done it.
15:47Um, so what happens now? Like, where do you, where do you want to see the story of this testing go after so long, just getting to this moment right now?
15:58Um, we've kind of said as a team that, um, and it was our chat in our camp that we had in Arundel that we'd like to judge ourselves after three, four years as, as a group, um, really take stock there and see where we're at.
16:14Um, it's, it's, it's a lovely thing that we have the Mace as part of, as part of that journey. Um, but in terms of us leaving a legacy, we, we understand that we're not going to leave a legacy behind in, in two years.
16:27Yes, we've created history, but as a group, you know, we'd like to emulate, if not do better than what Graham and his team did. So, I mean, they, they've set the standard. I don't think anyone has reached that standard as of yet.
16:40Um, so in three, four years time as a group, 2027, um, I'd like, I'd like us to be in a position where we've been able to go to Pakistan. We've been able to go to India, um, have victories there, you know, and do, and do a lot more.
16:57You know, we've only, we've only had two years. We've, we've, we've generated a lot of success in that two years, um, that we don't look past. Um, but I think from a longevity point of view to really get the respect
17:09out there as a, as a test team, we'd like to see where we are within, within another two years.
17:17Timber, from what you were saying just now, I think we can summarize it as you prefer for your bat to do the talking rather than you, but that kind of innings you played in, uh, particularly in the second innings with the injury in the match winning partnership, supporting, you know, the guy who scored a lot of the runs.
17:32What do you think that kind of performance says about you as, as, as a person?
17:36Um, I'd like to think it gives, um, a glimpse into, into, I guess, Timber, the person, the character.
17:45Um, for me, it's always, it's always about the team, um, doing what I think is, is best for the team and also wanting to, to be the guy for the team.
17:55Um, I think in times where, where, where there's pressure, where you can make a decision, where you're kind of giving another one the opportunity, it's easy to do that in pressure moments.
18:05Um, but it takes, um, but it takes a certain level of courage to be able to, you know, look past what you are feeling physically, um, and still try, find a way to, to, to get the job done.
18:19And I think that's been the theme of us as a test team in our campaign is that we found ways to, to, to get the results in our favor.
18:26We haven't exactly played perfect cricket.
18:29Um, and I think even today, or even over the course of the last three, three and a half days, we haven't exactly played, um, perfect cricket, but we keep finding a way.
18:40You know, that's something that I keep asking the guys and that's something that I demand of myself as well.
18:46So if anything, it speaks to, I'd like it to, to speak to my, to my character.
18:51Um, I think resilience is obviously a big, a big theme in my, in my career.
18:57Um, that little bit of grit and determination, but just finding a way irrespective of, of what's happening, um, around you.
19:05I'll ask you a question, just one of the back.
19:07Uh, Temba, you touched on wanting to play a bit more white ball cricket and also about winning more, uh, ICC trophies.
19:14Um, you've got the 50 over World Cup that you're co-hosting with, uh, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 2027.
19:20How big is that going to be, uh, for South Africa as a country to co-host that tournament in a couple of years' time and maybe build off the momentum of this win?
19:28Yeah, I think it'll be massive.
19:30I mean, that, that tournament, we're definitely setting our sights on, on, on doing, on doing special things in that tournament.
19:37Um, still, still a way to go until then.
19:40Um, Shukri obviously comes in now as the white ball coach.
19:43So, you know, we'll see what plans, um, that he has, um, who his personnel will be.
19:50Um, but yeah, hopefully this is the start of, of, of, of, of those trophies for the team.
19:55Before then, the guys go to the T20 stuff.
19:57So, Aiden and his boys, you know, we will be supporting them to, to, to follow, to follow suit.
20:04Um, but that 2027, you know, a lot of us, you know, we want to, we want to be there.
20:08We need to be fit to be there first.
20:10Um, but I mean, I'll definitely be putting up my hand to be a part of that group.
20:15Um, Timber, you say you're not a man of many words, but your, your coach certainly is.
20:20Um, it's, um, it's a bit of a yin-yang relationship, but just, he makes these left field decisions when he, when he picks players.
20:26Do you ever differ with him?
20:28And how much trust must you have to, to actually say, uh, you're on the right path here and, and we're gonna, we're gonna go with this?
20:35Yeah, I think we differ all the time.
20:37Um, and I think that's the, that's the beauty of the relationship that we can, we can put our thoughts.
20:43It's not a yes, yes, boss type of thing.
20:46Um, I think the, what I appreciate about him is his conviction behind the decisions that these, that, that he makes.
20:53You know, there's always, there's always, uh, method, method to its madness.
20:58Um, and credit to him, you know, he's, his decisions have come off.
21:02You know, I mean, think of a guy like Vian Mugler to be sent in the three, you know, um, second innings.
21:08Vian played an important innings, um, there.
21:10Um, and I mean, there's many decisions.
21:12And Corbin Bosch coming into the game, um, when we played against Pakistan in Supersport.
21:17And he played the way that he played, um, Sen Mutasami, who kind of, who came in as well.
21:22Bangladesh, Forfa, and AT there.
21:24So, you know, he's, he's making the right calls at the moment.
21:28Um, but it's the, it's the conviction.
21:29It's the conviction that allows us to, to back his decisions.
21:33Um, but like you say, I think that level of trust is there.
21:38You know, Shooks is a guy, you know, plays, plays tough, you know,
21:41but actually quite, quite soft at heart.
21:43You know, if you catch him on a one-on-one, you know,
21:45you can really get to the person behind that, that tough exterior.
21:50Um, and he's there, he's there for a lot of us.
21:55You know, he's been, he's been there for, for me.
21:58Um, he's, he's, he's cared about, he's cared about me, the person.
22:02Um, he's tried to offload a lot, um, off, off my shoulders.
22:07Um, and I mean, that's, I think I've, I can attribute a lot that,
22:14I can attribute a lot of that to, to my success with the bat.
22:18Right.
22:18Right.
22:19First of all,