SA vs AUS, WTC 2025 Final: Ashwell Prince opens up on Temba Bavuma's injury, says 'we had to make a big call'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "SA vs AUS, WTC 2025 Final: Ashwell Prince opens up on Temba Bavuma's injury, says 'we had to make a big call'")
SA vs AUS, WTC 2025 Final: Ashwell Prince opens up on Temba Bavuma's injury, says 'we had to make a big call' Photograph: (AFP)
Batting on 6, right before the tea break, Temba Bavuma received a lengthy treatment on his hamstring with the management concerned.
South Africa are on the brink of a historic World Test Championship (WTC) win as they need 69 more runs to end their trophy drought in an ICC competition. Playing on Friday (June 14) on Day 3 of the WTC final, the Proteas made a solid start to their second innings with skipper Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram playing crucial roles. However, it was skipper Bavuma who took the applause having stood form at the Lord’s cricket ground despite appearing to have sustained a hamstring injury.
Batting on 6, right before the tea break, Bavuma received a lengthy treatment on his hamstring with the management concerned. However, the Proteas skipper continued to bat and would later stitch an unbeaten stand of 143 runs with Markram. After Stumps on Day 3, batting coach Ashwell Prince reflected on the call and stated that the management had a decision to make.
‘We had to make a call’
"We had to make a big call whether he continues to bat and how it will affect his strokeplay, how that might affect Aiden's rhythm," Ashwell Prince, South Africa's batting coach, said. "If twos are being turned into one [or] they can't run the twos or the threes. Both of them were adamant that Temba was going to continue. He wanted to continue.”
At the time of writing before the start of Day 4, South Africa are 213/2 in their second innings and need 69 runs to win. Aiden Markram is unbeaten on 102 while skipper Temba Bavuma is on 65 runs. The pair has already added 143 runs for the third wicket and are likely to end South Africa’s title drought in an ICC event.
The Proteas’ only senior men’s silverware was the 1998 Champions Trophy and have since faced an unfortunate tail of near-misses including the 2024 T20 World Cup where they lost to India. If they win the WTC final, they will also become the third different nation to lift the Test Holy Grail after New Zealand and Australia.
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