From WTC 2025 victory to ODI wins in Australia and England, South Africa’s cricket revival continues. Top reasons that fuels the Proteas’ dominance.
While South African cricket has faced several hardships, ups & downs, they seem to have overcome these hurdles in the last few seasons. After a heartbreaking loss in the final of ICC T20 World Cup in 2024, they bounced back strongly with a scintillating 5-wicket over Australia in the 2023-25 WTC Final at Lord’s. This was their second ICC triumph and first in this century.
Ever since that win, South Africa has stringed together several dominating performances, winning crucial series away from home.
They have blown away Australia away from home in the 3-match ODI series before producing a stellar show in England.Not to forget, the Proteas have been on a 5-series winning streak in Test aside from winning the WTC. So what are the reasons for the current resurgence in international format? Let us delve into it.
Retaining the talents
The launch of the SA20 league in 2023 has done a lot of good for the rainbow nation. In the past, due to greener pastures and better financial returns, many talents left the country to pursue opportunities around the globe. Either they take the Kolpak way and fetch themselves a long-term County cricket contract to play in England, or represent different countries at the international level.
However, those days seem to be behind us, and Cricket South Africa (CSA) can breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to retaining their talents. Much like the years gone by, South Africa continues to churn out world-class cricketers. But the real difference now has been the financial sustainability brought in by SA20, which has stabilized the revenues, creating a growing ecosystem for the players.
The revenue systems are strong enough for players to stay in South Africa, rather than signing Kolpak-like deals and remain available to play for the country. What this has done is that it has created multi-format players and consistent selections. For instance, a player like Kagiso Rabada is available throughout the year to represent the Proteas in all formats, as are the other senior players like Temba Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj, and Aiden Markram.
Similarly, the next generation of young cricketers, such as Dewald Brevis, Wiaan Mulder, or Tristan Stubbs, have featured in all three formats, showcasing their depth and continuity.
So the consistency in players’ selections in all three formats has translated into better results. In the last two years or so, Proteas have built a solid core in all departments, which is allowing them to get over the line more often than not.
Read More: Architects of South Africa’s ODI series win over Australia
Leadership group
Apart from being able to keep the mix of players consistent, what South Africa has done is to keep their leadership group constant. Temba Bavuma led a young Test team in terms of experience admirably well from the front to win the WTC 2023-25 cycle. He was their leading run-getter with 711 runs, with the highlight being his two tons and match-winning 66 in the successful run chase in the WTC Final game against Australia.
Similarly, Aiden Markram has done well both as a captain in the shorter formats and as a responsible senior statesman in Tests. After scoring a fourth-innings century (136) in the WTC Final, Markram has hit a couple of impactful half-centuries in back-to-back overseas ODI series against Australia and England, respectively. So when a player in the leadership role does well, it automatically lifts the entire team up and that has been happening with South Africa as well.
The other player who has done quite well in all the three formats is Keshav Maharaj. The spinner, who is also a key part of the leadership group has quickly risen to the top of ODI bowling charts with a rich haul of wickets in both Australia and England.
Rise of youngsters
While we saw the senior pros doing well, the emergence of young players has also played a key role in South Africa becoming a dominant force. Dewald Brevis took world by storm with a sensational 56-ball 125* against Australia in a T20I game at Darwin before scoring a couple of blistering knocks in recent ODI games.
Tristan Stubbs, too has shown signs of coming back to his best following twin match-winning ODI half-centuries in Australia and England. Lhuan-dre Pretorious, a promising young opener has already created quite an impact with his exploits on Test debut (158 against Zimbabwe). On the bowling front, pacer Nandre Burger has been a regular in the ODI format, while all-rounder Wiaan Mulder has done exceedingly well both with bat and ball. Mulder is South Africa’s leading run-scorer till now across formats in 2025 (717 runs).
Read More: Key non-India Test series to look forward to in the WTC 2025-27 cycle
