Temba Bavuma is set to extend one of Test cricket’s most remarkable records when he captains South Africa in the first of two Tests against Bangladesh at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
Bavuma has won 13 of his first 15 Tests as captain, no captain in the history of the game has enjoyed more success at the equivalent stage.
ALSO READ: Warner savages disgraceful Australia as Proteas claim series
Only Lindsay Hassett of Australia can match that record: they both had 13 wins, one draw, and one loss in their first 15 matches in charge.
Hassett’s fortunes took a downturn in his 16th match at the helm, when Australia lost to South Africa in Melbourne in 1952/53, and he added only one more win in his last nine matches as captain.
A home defeat against Bangladesh would carry similar shock value to Australia’s loss against an unheralded South African team 74 years ago.
South Africa are the reigning World Test champions, and their wins under Bavuma include three against Australia and three against India, two of which came in India last year.
ALSO READ: How does cricket’s World Test Championship work?
South Africa have won 14 of their 16 previous Tests against Bangladesh, while the other two ended as rain-affected draws in Bangladesh in 2015.
But Bangladesh pulled off a surprise win against Australia in Darwin in August, and, as Bavuma noted in a recent interview, “the target is on our back and everyone wants to have a go at us.”
The tour schedule makes an already tough assignment for Bangladesh even more challenging. As recently as Monday, they were completing a drawn Test against the West Indies in Sylhet, and they arrived in Johannesburg on Wednesday, just four days before facing the world champions.
Bangladesh have lost all eight of their previous Tests in South Africa. Five of those defeats came by an innings, and the closest of the other three was by 220 runs in Durban in 2021/22.
A key player for the tourists could be Towhid Hridoy, who made 350 not out for Bangladesh A against South Africa A in a high-scoring draw in Potchefstroom in September, then followed up with 242 not out and 82 in the second Test against the West Indies last week.
