The Grim Reaper has been knocking on the door of cricket. On an international level, test cricket is dying a slow death, and nationally, stadiums and players alike struggle to rise from the ground to meet the month’s end. Although there is some truth in it, the question remains: who is to blame for using this all as a scapegoat? South African cricket is currently rising from the ashes. The irony is that it is a different breed than what we are used to… it is not the era of Shaun Pollock or Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers. It is the era of consistency, and consistency is key.
Last year, former Australian captain, Steve Waugh, ripped South Africa apart for sending an in-experienced test team to New Zealand after the SA20 competition kept some of the regular players out of their duties. Waugh expressed that this is the pinnacle of the death of test cricket and that we are merely hastening the death thereof. Fast forward to 11 months later and South Africa has made it to the finals of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship. A first for “our” country, as Temba Bavuma and his men topped the log to achieve this impressive feat. Ready to face Australia on the 11 – 15 June 2025 at Lorde’s, South Africa is ready to leave their mark at the home of cricket.
A lot of focus is on the idea of test cricket slowly dying, but the world is turning a blind eye to one-day cricket that is also not drawing the same calibre players and crowds as before. 50 Overs is a nice middle-way between test and T20 cricket. But it seems like players have forgotten that there are a whole 30 overs still extra in a 50 overs match compared to T20… meaning that patience is not a virtue. After some poor form recently in ODI matches, after having won only 3 out of their last 11 matches the Proteas pulled a rabbit out of a hat at the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2025 Championship trophy, making the semi-final in both.
The Proteas have never been the best T20 side, for example looking at the star-studded West Indies team of a few years ago (that 2012 and 2016 teams were special). However, making the T20 final in 2024 was a massive achievement for the Proteas. It finally seems like the SA20 has been paying its dividends. Never in South Africa’s domestic history has there been such a successful cricket competition. Game after game it sold out and it has drawn international star-power. Academic essays can be written about the success of the SA20.
The SA20 tournament even got Gys Wege, Maties’ cricket captain and third year BAcc student, on the edge of his seat. He went to a few of the SA20 games especially supporting MI Cape Town. He explains that, “The cricket is quality and to match that with a great atmosphere and vibe is great. Financially the SA20 is very important, but for me the most important thing is having full crowds, making people fall in love with the game, especially the young kids dreaming of playing there one day. Because that’s where it all starts.”
As one of the High-Performance sports at Maties, being the captain of the Maties Cricket team is a massive honour and privilege for Wege. He does not take it lightly and knows that everyone trusts him. Maties has had some impressive results recently with them winning the Goldrush Boland Super league and the Boland Premier League. They also went on to win Regionals and finished 2nd at the Club Championship (where the 6 best clubs in the country compete). Lastly, they also finished 2nd at USSA last year. With all these results it is no wonder they won the “Team of the Year” at the Maties Sports Awards last year. They certainly want to carry this form into 2025.
Wege is just as inspired by the recent Proteas successes, “I think they have done well, especially at the ICC tournaments. Qualifying for the knockout stages in all 3 previous events and being the World Test Championship final is brilliant. Hopefully they can finally get over the line in that one. I think they’ve got pretty much all the bases covered in all areas. The batting line up, especially the middle order is probably one of, if not the best in the world. Watching on TV it also looks as if they enjoy playing with each other and spending time together when travelling and on tours.”
For Wege, cricket does not just stop at the men’s side, and he is immensely impressed with the Proteas women making back-to-back World Cup finals as well as the u/19 women’s team winning their first ever World Cup Final this year. Wege explains: “It certainly looks great. I know the primary school where I was even had a girls’ cricket team and there were about 80 girls that wanted to play and try it out. It shows there is interest and hopefully something CSA should continue doing is to try and develop and improve it.”
For someone like Wege it would be the ultimate to one day step into the realm of professional cricket (with a degree behind his name) and maybe even be part of the team to break the curse (yes, that looming ‘C’ curse). The thing is with the current Proteas side, consistently raising the bar recently and the success of the SA20 tournament. Being successful in cricket and once again dreaming of wearing the green and gold does not seem too far out of reach!
By Ané Havenga
