The SA cricket national team provided yet another proud moment for the country this week when they sealed a historic series win over India.
Victory over the Indians in their backyard – a first for SA since the year 2000 – was further confirmation that while our country has a myriad of challenges, we continue to excel on the sporting front.
In June this year, Temba Bavuma’s Proteas ended years of hurt for the cricket side by winning the ICC World Test Championship against Australia, bagging a first major international trophy in over three decades.
The 2-0 Test series win over India – coming just months after some doubters had claimed SA had a free path to the ICC Test final because they had not played big guns – shows our Proteas are well equipped to beat anyone, anywhere.
The Proteas landed in India after coming from behind to draw 1-1 away in Pakistan.
Overall, they have had a great past two years after reaching the T20 World Cup final last year, the 50-over semifinal two years ago, as well as the Champions Trophy semifinal earlier this year.
On the women’s side, we’ve also seen major progress from the Proteas, who lost to India in the World Cup final more than a month ago. It is clear that it’s only a matter of time before our Proteas deliver a Women’s World Cup, and it would be momentous if they did this when we host the tournament in 2027.
Elsewhere, it has generally been a cheerful year for SA sports, with Bafana Bafana qualifying for the World Cup as group winners for the first time since 2002. Hugo Broos’s men will know the composition of their group next week, when the draw takes place in the US. After that, they depart for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, where they will aim to improve on last year’s third-place finish.
Our junior national teams – Amajimbos and Amajita — also took part in their age-group World Cups for the first time in a while, and Banyana Banyana are preparing to go reclaim the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, also to be staged in Morocco next year.
The Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks, on the other hand, have just finished a highly successful European end-of-year tour, winning all their games convincingly.
Overall, SA may have had usual difficulties and challenges as a country, but on the field of play, we have had a great 2025, which has served to add hope. For that, we should all be grateful.
Sowetan
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