Temba Bavuma said South Africa’s humbling defeat by Australia in their last red-ball meeting was “a critical point in our journey” that transformed the team into World Test Championship finalists.
The teams who contest the final that begins at Lord’s on Wednesday last came up against each other in 2022-23, when South Africa were comfortably beaten in the first two games of the series and were on their way to another emphatic defeat in the last before rain in Sydney saved them. Their belief is that it is not only their personnel – Bavuma is the only member of the top six who played at the SCG still in the side – that has changed significantly since.
