The Proteas’ skipper, Temba Bavuma, has sustained an elbow injury just eight weeks out from the World Test Championship (WTC) Final at Lord’s in June. Bavuma, who had travelled to Cape Town after the last league game of the Lions in CSA Division 1 first-class competition was washed out, was due to link up with the team for the final against the Titans on Thursday.
However, the Lions were informed of Bavuma’s withdrawal on Wednesday night, as reports about a niggle in his elbow surfaced. As per the reports, the injury has impacted the same elbow, his left one, the South African skipper has had troubles with in the past. In 2022, he fractured his left elbow during the Indian tour, which forced him out of action for three months.
He again sustained an injury to the same elbow while running for a single during a one-day game versus Ireland in October last year in Abu Dhabi. This time, he returned to the international stage only after a seven-week-long hiatus, when he played a long-format game against Sri Lanka in Durban in November.
His time off did not seem to have an impact on the way he returned, as he went on to score a staggering 502 runs at an average of more than 72 in the four Test games during the home summer. This included two centuries and three fifties, all within seven innings. This means South Africa will lose more than just a captain if this injury goes on to affect his presence in the final.
His last international appearance had been in the Champions Trophy semi-final against New Zealand in Lahore. Although South Africa have no international game scheduled before the WTC final on June 11, with several players busy either with the Indian Premier League (IPL) or their county cricket stints, Bavuma played the domestic first-class competition with the Lions.
For now, the extent of his injury remains uncertain, and the South African board have not issued any official statement on Bavuma’s condition. The Lions also did not know much about it besides the fact that he withdrew from the final game.
South Africa have a scheduled practice window from mid-May in England, which will be crucial for them going into the final, given they haven’t played in the English conditions even once during the ongoing WTC cycle. Their last tour of England was in 2022, and Bavuma, incidentally, had missed it too because of his fractured elbow.
Australia currently hold the Test mace, and facing them in a final would be a challenge no less significant than the fact that South Africa would be playing in their first-ever WTC final. Barring their defeats against India in the second Test game at the start of the cycle and a 2–nil whitewash by New Zealand in the subsequent series, South Africa managed to stay clear of any further losses throughout the cycle. They ended the Championship at the top of the table, which made them the first team to reach the WTC final.
