Fans react as Temba Bavuma hands over WTC Test mace to son in heartwarming move

South Africa, led by Temba Bavuma, broke their 27-year jinx of not winning an ICC Trophy. The Proteas defeated Australia by five wickets to win the WTC Final, and the victory will go down in history as the one who finally broke that dreaded ICC curse. The Proteas also did in in style, winning eight Tests in a row to win the title.
After the win, the spotlight was on Bavuma, who also shrugged off a hamstring injury during the second innings and stitched together a match-winning partnership.
Bavuma was also joined by his son on the field during the victory celebrations. Then, Bavuma also gave the Test mace to his son in a heartwarming gesture, and the pair also celebrated together.
Speaking after the match, Bavuma said, 'It has been a special couple of days, at some point, felt like we were back in South Africa with all the support in the stands. We have prepared hard for this, we have worked hard for this moment. We came here with a lot of belief but also with a lot of doubters and we are happy that we were able to play well enough to get that type of result. Special moment for us as a team, special moment for the people back home, probably will really sink in a couple of days but it's been special. The energy was there, we have been wanting this as a team, we have been kind of knocking at the door, being relentless, getting ourselves into positions where we can be in finals.'
'We have gone through the heartache, we have gone through the disappointment, seen it with the past players who have come before us and the sun is on us at the moment. That responsibility we have been carrying it and hopefully this is one of many. KG is a massive player, couple of days ago, I went to the ICC Hall of Fame in Leeds, I think in a couple of years KG will be one of those guys. He came into the game with controversy behind him. He was motivated to do what he needed to do and like a champion he came and did what he did. (Markram) Unbelievable, couple of people were asking why Aiden was in the team. Stats, yes are important but character is something we look at and a guy like Aiden, he carries all those traits. We knew second innings, we are gonna have to come out and play and he led it in like true Aiden fashion. Another massive player for us.
'Character has been a big thing for us as a team and those two guys are the ones who carry that. Us a team we got ourselves into the final, there were doubters as to the route that we took, supposedly playing weaker teams. We are happy we are able to perfom like this and hopefully that kind of squashes that. For us as a country, here's an opportunity for us, as divided as we are at times to forget all of that, to rejoice in this moment and just be one. I'm sure the people back home will be celebrating it with us and you can trust that we will be celebrating it massively as well,' he added.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Indian Express

2 hours ago

• Indian Express

Shafali Verma: ‘I have matured as a cricketer and value my wicket more'

Poised to return to Indian scheme of things, former women's prodigy Shafali Verma said the time away from the team after she was dropped has matured her and she will be smarter now and respect bowlers before she explodes, as her talent permits. India's T20 side will start their campaign against English women on June 28. Verma averages a lowly 20 in England, but is scoring upwards of a 150 strike rate in Women's Premier League (WPL) for Delhi Capitals. Talking to Hindustan Times, Verma said, 'At the start, I was carefree and hit every ball I faced. I enjoyed dominating the bowlers, going for big shots. I have matured as a cricketer and value my wicket more. I want to contribute to every game so that my team benefits.' Her renewed approach, she told HT was pragmatic. 'I won't say my style has changed much, but yes, I will be defensive too, and give respect to good bowlers. England has good bowlers like Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone. So, I won't just throw my wicket,' she stressed. Her time away from sport had taught her plenty. 'In a sport, there will be ups and downs. I, too, have faced failures and disappointments, but I have learnt from them. Hard work and passion to play for India have kept me going', Verma told HT. For someone who got off to a flyer with her half century record being compared to men's cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Verma had suffered a dip in form and was ommitted from India sides. She has over 1000 T20I runs but this comeback is a crucial second chance for someone who couldn't curb her feisty instincts and paid with her wicket often. Verma credited her Delhi Capitals captain, Meg Laning, for bringing in a revised perspective in her strokeplay. She had spent a few days preparing at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to hone her skills, beforev joining old teammates ahead of the upcoming ICC Women's ODI World Cup in India & Sri Lanka. 'It is a matter of pride that India is hosting. I'm sure India will do well and make use of the home advantage. At the moment, my job is to do well in the T20Is in England. I hope to leave an impression, and then it is left to the selectors,' she told HT. 'Getting to represent your country is a dream come true. I have fought through disappointments and turned them (opportunities) into rewards with hard work. I now look forward to playing big knocks for India and showing my positive intent,' she added.

Indian Express

3 hours ago

• Indian Express

IND vs ENG: How a village of 7000 raised England cricket's Prince Harry Brook

Saturday was the year's longest day but at the village Burley-in-Wharfedale club they wanted it to be longer. They had won an important league game and the boy from their village Harry Brook, playing a Test about 14 miles away, was unbeaten at stumps on Day 2 at Headingley. The bar was busy, laughs kept emerging from tables with families. No one wanted to call it a day. After furiously talking about cricket, players and members got involved in some fun football. A little boy, of around five, tirelessly chased the ball and everyone indulged him. Brook was that boy not many years back. Now, he is England's big batting hope, white-ball captain and clearly the heir-apparent prince to Test skipper, Ben Stokes. A 30 minute drive through rolling hills and tranquil meadows with all shades of earthy colours takes one to the village with a population of 7000. Rural Yorkshire can inspire oil paintings, and cricketers. The village's centre is the Burley-in-Wharfedale club that is surrounded by typically English terrace houses. It also has an inviting club house, the water hole that many villagers would call their second home. There is a dispensary on one-side and kitchen gardens on the other. Harry's hits, they say here, would end either in surgery room or squash ripe red tomatoes. His one-time coach David Cooper gives a short tour of the place and the name 'Brook' keeps popping from everywhere – on the photo frames of triumphant little leagues, honour boards of club captains, a beautifully crafted wooden bench and on a home whose garden lawn is virtually the out-field of this quaint cricket ground. The charming little cottage next to the sight screen where Harry's grandparents lived and that's where the man who scored 99 at Headingley would spend his vacations. Under overcast conditions, Brook took on Bumrah & Co, and was imperious in disarming their attack, till he was gone on a Bazbally 99. It's not just Harry who's responsible for the 'Brook' footprints at this club. His grandfather, two uncles and father have led Burley-in-Wharfedale in Yorkshire's premier division, a prestigious league around here. Like that little boy, who everyone gave time to on Saturday, Harry was the one who this village was invested in and had taken the responsibility of grooming into a fine batsman. Listening to Cooper gives an idea about the bond the club and its members have with their Harry. Cooper talks about the day when Harry made his Test debut against South Africa at the Oval in 2023. That day Burley-in-Wharfedale had a game. Generally on match day, the coach says, the bar is empty and everyone is out watching the game. On Harry's debut, it changed. 'As soon as Harry walked in to bat, someone from the bar shouted out loud – 'Harry's in'. It was like an alarm going off, the ground emptied in minutes and the ground was empty,' he said. This was followed by a little private moment the coach had on watching his ward. 'On his first ball, Harry was facing the tall South African bowler Marco Jansen. Jansen bowled a length ball and Harry did what I had trained him for years – he moved back, got into line, played the ball late and under his eyes. Exactly like I have told him to,' says Cooper. There are those who say that Cooper had misty eyes that day. The coach doesn't deny as he says, 'I think there was some dust that flew into my eye or maybe it could be a tear.' At Headingley also, in the ongoing Test, Harry had started his innings by the same copy-book correct forward defensive stroke against Jasprit Bumrah. Cooper then ambles to the net-area where a father is giving throwdowns to his son. The coach points to a small green mat with an artificial grass top. It was on it with two plastic feet pasted on it with Velcro, they could move around. Cooper has designed the 'coaching mat' to explain to his pupils the correct feet position when hitting every shot in the book. Harry's wagon-wheel and his 360 degree range of strokes at Headingley shows Burley-in-Wharfedale has groomed a world class, all-format player. And also a captain who was made aware about the nuance of field placements and bowling changes very early in life. Cooper says that when Harry was named the captain for the West Indies tour a few months back, there was this joke at the club about him doing well. As a youngster, while on vacation, Harry had spent long hours watching cricket with the ever-demanding captain of Burley-in-Wharfedale, his grandfather Tony. 'Tony would be there complaining about field positions and bowling changes and young Harry would be absorbing all that. Listening to the real critique from a real expert would surely come in handy as an England captain,' says Cooper, a stodgy opener from the time he played alongside Garry Sobers, Joel Garner, Rohan Kanhai and Carl Hooper in the Central Lancashire League. Captaincy was something that got ingrained in him organically, the batting lessons were grilled into him at the cricket-crazy Brook house. 'His uncle Richard would say that they would bowl underarm to him in the living room, and in the lounge part of downstairs they obviously could see he was a talented young toddler with a good hand-eye coordination,' says Cooper. There are a couple incidents that convinced Cooper that he had under his wings a special player committed to the sport and blessed with a robust temperament. The first one happened one cold October evening when staying indoors was a much more comfortable option. ''On that gloomy day, I peeped over the fence, into the club, and I saw a young Harry running around the ground, finishing his laps with push-ups and stuff, and then running again. For a month, in that wet month, he was out there doing his stuff,' recalls Cooper, who was asked by Harry's uncle Nick to come and train their club's future first-teamer. It was during his stint with the junior team, that Cooper saw Harry play a very feisty game where the opposition were trying everything to win. 'They were sledging, there was time-wasting and bending every rule. Harry played a match-winning knock there. He scored about 30 and he saw us home in a very tense situation. That talks about temperament as a 14-year-old boy,' he says. While playing for England he has shown the same grit and when leading, like against the West Indies, there have been no signs of nerves. Kevin Pietersen says 'he is the future', Nasser Hussain sticks his neck out to say 'he is going to be a superstar in all formats.' And after the West Indies series sweep, in his debut as captain, coach Brendon McCullum says the new captain's calm and poise can rub off on other players. Much-needed breakthrough for #TeamIndia! 🔥#PrasidhKrishna grabs his third wicket of the Test, dismissing #HarryBrook on 99! 💥 Will #TeamIndia's bowlers finish off the English tail in a flash? 👀#ENGvIND 1st Test Day 3 LIVE NOW Streaming on JioHotstar 👉… — Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 22, 2025 Harry's grandmother, Pauline, too has played a big role in his smooth cricketing journey. She would be the one driving Harry all over Yorkshire for his junior games. She would also be at award functions collecting awards since Harry was on some cricketing tour. 'She was the one who made sure that he was always on time at games. She would support him when he would do well and also when he didn't do well. In a game like cricket if you can't do well all the time and you need someone who can put an arm around your shoulder to say 'never mind, you know there is another game next week'. She played a big role behind the scenes in his development,' he says. Harry's grandparents, who planted the cricket seed in him, are no longer there. Tony passed away in 2012 and Pauline in 2024. The grandmother's death was the reason Harry missed the tour to India. At Burley-in-Wharfedale club on the boundary rope in front of the Brooks house, is a wooden bench that keeps the memories of Tony and Pauline alive. 'Harry's father is a carpenter, he with his own hand made this bench,' says Cooper. It isn't merely a bench, it's a tribute to the Brooks who stepped out of their front porch and walked into the Burley-in-Wharfedale XI. And then came Harry, he went further ahead and promises to keep marching on. Playing his first Test near home with his grandmother not in the stands, Harry came to his team's aid when India were threatening to run away with the game. Leed's cheered wildly as he launched England's counter attack. Like at Burley-in-Wharfedale on Saturday, Leeds wanted the day, and Harry's innings, to be longer. It didn't. But an entertaining 99 by the home boy was much-appreciated than the three hundreds by the visitors.

First Post

3 hours ago

• First Post

Sourav Ganguly reveals why VVS Laxman had stopped talking to him for three months: 'Anybody would get upset'

Former India captain Ganguly, however, added that the decision that angered batting icon Laxman wasn't personal, and the two eventually patched up with passage of time. read more Former India captain Sourav Ganguly revealed VVS Laxman did not speak to him for months after the latter was excluded from India's squad for the 2003 ICC World Cup in South Africa. Batting icon Laxman was a strong favourite to be included in India's squad for the tournament until Ganguly decided otherwise and fought for spin-bowling all-rounder Dinesh Mongia's inclusion in the South Africa-bound squad. Laxman is among a handful of notable Indian cricketers who never got to play in a World Cup. The closest he had come to playing in ICC's quadrennial showpiece event was in 2003, around which time he was a first-choice player in Tests as well as ODIs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ganguly opens up on decision to pick Mongia over Laxman for World Cup And Ganguly revealed Laxman did not speak to him for three months after being informed that he would not be traveling with the rest of the squad to the World Cup. 'It has happened many times when we rested players. They were unhappy. Laxman being left out of the World Cup…he never spoke to me for three months. Then I made up with him. Anybody would get upset…for a World Cup. Especially a player of Laxman's calibre. Quite natural that he would get upset,' Ganguly told PTI. Former India wicketkeeper-batter Kiran More, who was the chief selector at the time, had also revealed in a chat with ex-Pakistan captain Rashid Latif that the selection committee was in favour of including Laxman over Mongia, but captain Ganguly and head coach John Wright had other plans for the mega tournament. Ganguly, however, added that the decision to drop Laxman wasn't personal and spoke highly of the stylish Hyderabadi batter, who scored more than 10,000 international runs including 8,781 in Tests, making a strong comeback into the ODI side later that year. 'After we finished the World Cup, he was happy that we did well. When we came back, he returned to the ODI system. He played an outstanding series in Pakistan and Australia. We won in Pakistan for the first time ever, and VVS was very instrumental. They knew at the back of their mind that it was never personal,' 'Dada' added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ganguly had led India into the final of the 2003 World Cup despite a poor start, on the back of eight consecutive wins. The Men in Blue, however, fell short in the final hurdle, suffering a 125-run defeat at the hands of Ricky Ponting's Australians who won the tournament for the second consecutive time by winning all of their matches.