South Africa’s preparations for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup have taken a blow with the news that captainTemba Bavuma will miss the Proteas’ warm-up fixtures for the tournament against Afghanistan and New Zealand.
Bavuma is flying home due to family reasons and will miss South Africa’s two vital warm-up matches. The T20I skipper Aiden Markram will captain the South Africa team in WC warm-up matches in Bavuma’s absence.
🟢#CWC23 TEAM UPDATE 🟡
🏏Proteas ODI Captain Temba Bavuma will travel back home due to family reasons
Bavuma misses 2️⃣ #CWC23 warm-up matches
🆚️Afghanistan 🇦🇫
🆚️New Zealand 🇳🇿Markram will captain in his absence #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/iC3PwcSPrY
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) September 28, 2023
South Africa will take on Afghanistan in their opening warm-up fixture on Friday in Thiruvananthapuram, before completing their preparations for the tournament against New Zealand at the same Greenfield Stadium venue on October 2.
Proteas will play their World Cup opening match against Sri Lanka at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi and Bavuma is likely to return in time for this clash.
Bavuma has been in good form for the Proteas of late, with the experienced opener scoring an unbeaten century against Australia in Bloemfontein earlier this month.
South Africa have already lost key pacers Anrich Nortje and Sisanda Magala for the tournament due to injury.
South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen and Lizaad Williams. (ANI)
