Temba Bavuma leads Proteas in essential warm-up match against Zimbabwe before WTC showdown

South African bowler Lungi Ngidi. (Photo: Daniel Prentice / Gallo Images)

3 Jun 2025

South Africa will play their first Test match in five months this week as they prepare for the World Test Championship final against their neighbours.

The Proteas face Zimbabwe in a four-day one-off Test match from 3 June 2025 in Sussex, England, which will serve as a warm-up match for their World Test Championship (WTC) contest against Australia next week.

The warm-up match was squeezed in retrospectively, and not on the Future Tours Programme as a means for players to shake off their rust before the big showdown at Lord’s Cricket Ground from 11 June.

The last time the Proteas donned all white and ran out for a Test match was when they beat Pakistan by 10 wickets in the New Year’s Test at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town.

Since then there has been a white-ball focus, first with the SA20, then South Africa flying over to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates to play in the Champions Trophy in February at the start of March, before the Indian Premier League (IPL) got under way shortly after.

Solid run

A few of South Africa’s WTC squad members had a solid run at the IPL, displaying some of their best form. Among them were Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton. Other members like Kagiso Rabada, Corbin Bosch and Lungi Ngidi played more sporadically for their sides in the T20 competition, due to various reasons.

The rest of South Africa’s WTC squad have played very little cricket across the last few months, this warm-up match is especially important for them.

Skipper Temba Bavuma, for example, last took to the field in a competitive match in the Proteas’ Champions Trophy defeat to New Zealand at the semi-final stage at the start of March.

Although the captain was set to play two first-class matches for the Lions towards the back end of the domestic season, a recurring elbow injury kept him sidelined at the time.

Skipper Temba Bavuma in action for the Proteas. (Photo: Lee Warren / Gallo Images)

Medium-pace bowler Dane Paterson. (Photo: Christiaan Kotze / Gallo Images)

Proteas Proteas pace bowler Lungi Ngidi. (Photo: Daniel Prentice / Gallo Images)

Left-arm orthodox Keshav Maharaj played two 50-over matches for the Dolphins in March and as well as a first-class match, in which he tweaked his groin and has not played a professional cricket match since.

Tony de Zorzi and Senuran Muthusamy are in a similar position, having played a few first-class matches before enjoying an extended break away from the oval field.

Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham and Dane Paterson meanwhile have been busy since the end of the South African summer, playing for various teams in the UK in the County Championship.

Zimbabwe prep

For neighbours Zimbabwe, it’s their second hit-out in England after suffering an innings-and-45-run defeat, within three days, of another four-day Test against the hosts.

Zimbabwe’s performance thus raises the question of the quality of preparation South Africa will receive outside of just getting some of the rust off.

The wicket at Trent Bridge on that occasion, against England, was placid with the hosts setting a massive first-innings total of 565 for six — with their top three all registering centuries — before captain Ben Stokes declared.

England then bowled Zimbabwe out twice in less than two days for 265 and 255. Brian Bennett scored a century in the first innings, and there were contributions by Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, but nothing that should realistically challenge the WTC finalists too much.

With the ball, fast-bowler Blessing Muzarabani went on a bit of a tear — collecting three-wickets — right before Stokes declared. Hampering Zimbabwe’s strength even further is the fact that Raza and Muzarabani are unavailable for the warm-up clash at Arundel Castle Cricket Ground in Sussex.

Nonetheless, South Africa’s warm-up match is more than the preparation Australia will have for the WTC final. The last time their Test team played together was at the start of February when they beat Sri Lanka and sealed their qualification for the final.

Australia have no warm-up matches scheduled and, barring their players currently in the County Championship in England, they are just as likely to be undercooked. DM

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Solid run

Zimbabwe prep