Temba Bavuma on ICC mace tour of Langa: ‘It was emotional’
Proteas Test captain Temba Bavuma holds aloft the ICC mace on the world champions' open-top bus parade through the streets of Langa last week. Picture: Henk Kruger Independent Media
Image: Picture: Henk Kruger Independent Media
It’s coming up two months since the Proteas were crowned World Test Championship (WTC) winners, but it was possibly thousands of kilometres away from the home of cricket where the true impact of South Africa’s and Temba Bavuma’s victory was most apparent.
Last week, Bavuma and his Proteas teammates took the ICC mace to his home town of Langa in Cape Town.
Hordes of fans, young and old, greeted their heroes to celebrate their landmark victory.
Speaking at the Cricket SA awards on Thursday at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg where Bavuma was adjudged Test Player of the Year, the skipper spoke about bringing that trophy ‘back home’.
Bavuma Reflects on Heartwarming Community Experience in Langa
“I think it gets bigger and bigger every time we have an opportunity to meet people on the ground,” Bavuma said.
“Last week, some of the players and I got to go to Langa, experience the community, but also the emotion about it.
“I think that experience for a lot of us was heart-warming, it was emotional. It really gave us a proper sense of what we've done as a team.”
Celebrating South Africa’s Cricket Triumph: A Time to Revel and Reflect
For the players there is never time to properly dwell on such achievements with the full cricketing calendar, but whenever South African cricketers and fans congregate it would be an apt excuse to revel, explained Bavuma.
“I think as time goes by, we still have another year and a half to celebrate being the champions. I think that will add a lot more, but again, seeing everyone here, everyone’s happy when the mace came out.
“I think we’ve really done something special as a group.