Temba Bavuma felt his left calf tighten while patrolling the deep during Sunday’s third one-day international against England, and the physio’s verdict was immediate: iced leg, no more fielding, bat only if absolutely necessary. With just over a month until South Africa begin their World Test Championship defence in Pakistan, even a “minor niggle”, as team management called it, is unwelcome.
This is the skipper’s second in-match setback of the year. In June, during the Championship final, he tweaked a hamstring early in his stay yet battled on for 66, sharing a decisive 147-run stand with Aiden Markram. The hamstring then ruled him out of July’s Tests in Zimbabwe. He returned against Australia last month, carefully managed, playing two of three ODIs. That plan was shelved here: Bavuma has started every game of this England series, though he sits out the forthcoming T20s.
Fitness is a recurring theme. Bavuma, 34, hopes to captain at the 2027 home World Cup. By then he will be 37 and, as he admitted last summer, “the body’s not getting any younger.” Hamstring issues surfaced at the 2023 World Cup and again versus India, while a chronic elbow problem means heavy strapping is now routine.
When Bavuma left the field, South Africa’s reply unravelled in ten chastening deliveries: 6 for 3, Wiaan Mulder—parachuted in at No. 3—gone first ball. Markram and Rassie van der Dussen steadied things, but the early damage lingered. Assistant coach JP Duminy, speaking between innings, kept perspective: “We’d prefer a fully fit captain, of course, yet the bigger picture is Pakistan. We won’t gamble.”
The medical team will scan the calf on Monday. A low-grade strain could heal inside three weeks; anything worse risks Bavuma missing the warm-up fixtures on the subcontinent.
For now, South Africa’s think-tank must juggle rehabilitation schedules, leadership cover and a batting order that looks brittle whenever its captain is absent.
