Kevin Pietersen praises Proteas win, criticised for playing abroad
South African-born cricketer Kevin Pietersen has praised the Proteas for their historic win at the World Test Championship on Saturday, 14 June.
The national cricket team – led by captain Temba Bavuma – defeated Australia by five wickets in the final at Lord's in London.
Kevin left SA at the age of 19 over his disdain for racial quotas in local cricket.. After four years of residency, he qualified to play for England, where he eventually became captain of the national team.
In several X posts, former South African cricketer Kevin Pietersen praised the Proteas for winning the WTC for the first time.
He jokingly added: 'There won't be another country on the planet that wakes up with more hangovers than South Africa. It'll be BABALAS central!
Kevin Pietersen's X posts about the national team – noticeably omitting the Proteas' first black test match captain, Temba Bavuma, whose 'racial quotas' appointment criticism has had many eating their words – left many South Africans annoyed.
Others brought up his decision to play for England over South Africa.
Did you play for England or South Africa? I forget. — 𝑪 𝑹 𝑼 𝑪 𝑬 𝑺 𝑰 𝑮 𝑵 𝑨 𝑻 𝑰 (@crucesignatiDL) June 15, 2025
Kevin Petersen was born in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal in 1980. He attended the Maritzburg College and was later selected to play for Natal's B team in 1997 at the age of 17
However, in his 2007 autobiography Crossing The Boundary, Kevin revealed the real reason he left SA.
An extract of the book, as published by DailyMail, reads: 'I was dropped because the quota system was brought into South African cricket to positively discriminate in favour of 'players of colour' and to fast-track the racial integration of cricket in the country. Cricketer Kevin Pietersen was born in South Africa.Images via Instagram:
@kevinpietersen
He continued: 'To me, every single person in this world needs to be treated exactly the same. And that should have included me as a promising 20-year-old cricketer. If you do well, you should play on merit. That goes for any person of any colour. It was heartbreaking.
Despite feeling forced to leave his homeland, Kevin added that 'it turned out it was the best thing that could have happened.'
Kevin Pietersen's family—including three siblings—still lives in SA, even though he considers England 'home.'
His mother, Penny, told the Mirror that she was disappointed at the 'hostile reception' from South Africans toward her son in his early playing days.
She said, 'That's sad. People should be happy for someone else's success.
'Kevin took the initiative and had the courage to go overseas and realise his dream. And that's something you can't take away from him.'
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