In the year 2025, the word impossible if I may has been shredded to pieces.
There is ample reason for me to say this as only yesterday, in the fourth Test of the all-important and may I add the original 5-Test extravaganza, the Ashes before India’s commercial might started playing God, saw England beat the mighty Australians on their own shore after a whooping gap of 5468 days.
Yes, the last time England had won down under was under the astute guidance of Sir Andrew Strauss in the 2010-11 season, with a generation having passed by and stalwarts like Joe Root and Ben Stokes not even being cricketing entities then let alone being known.
Well in a similar vein another resilient force from the southern tip of Africa also did the impossible in 2025, when they finally surmounted to the very top by winning their maiden ICC title in almost three decades, again with Australia being at the receiving end.
The nation at the heart of it all is none other than South Africa, for whom 2025 has been a year etched in pride and redemption. Long burdened by near-misses and unkind labels, their men finally silenced the critics on the grandest stage, lifting the coveted ICC Test Championship trophy at Lord’s.
If that triumph stirred the soul, their women came heartbreakingly close to glory themselves, falling just short against India in a fiercely contested Women’s ODI World Cup final — a campaign that reaffirmed South Africa’s place among cricket’s elite.
And if there weren’t already enough reasons to celebrate, the men in Green and Gold also went on to conquer cricket’s harshest frontier — the unforgiving subcontinent.
Battling searing conditions and hostile crowds, they held their nerve to secure a hard-fought draw against Pakistan before delivering a statement performance in India’s own backyard, demolishing the hosts in a two-Test series against each nation. It was a tour that demanded resilience and belief, and they emerged not just unscathed, but triumphant.
Undoubtedly a feat worth every praise if you are a Mzansi purist like me.
So, amid such brave hurrahs, let’s look at some of the South African performers who etched their names in the annals of endurance in 2025:
Laura Wolvaardt: leader-extraordinaire who showed unsullied excellence with the bat
For some cricketers they say, with captaincy their individual disciplines whether be it with the bat or the ball just soars.
Well, for possibly the best cover drive player in the women’s game currently, Laura Wolvaardt the aforementioned statement holds true as she has amassed over 1000 runs in ODIs this year, 1174 to be precise only behind India’s Smriti Mandhana and was also the top scorer in the recently concluded ODI World Cup with 470 runs to her name.
This led to the Proteas almost winning this global showpiece before they fell short to a rather determined Harmanpreet Kaur’s Indian outfit who made their own dream come true soaring to their maiden ICC title.
Having said this, credit needs to be showered on Wolvaardt as she has not only scored a mountain of runs for South Africa but has also led this team with much aplomb.
Temba Bavuma – ‘O captain, My Captain’
The most clinical leader South Africa has had over the last half a decade.
Well, his captaincy record in the longest format speaks for itself with 11 victories in 12 matches, the best for any Test captain ever in the long-treasured history of Test Cricket with one match being a draw.
And if this isn’t reason enough to celebrate, Bavuma is the only skipper in the longest format to boast conquering an ICC mace amid all South African captains and one of the esteemed few to beat India in India which itself is a feat worth every praise.
Aiden Markram – ‘The Ironman of South African Cricket’
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Aiden Markram, the classiest batter in the current South African lineup undoubtedly justifies this saying as we saw in perhaps the most important game South Africa played this year, the ICC World Test Championship final.
After being set a daunting target of 282 to secure their maiden ICC Mace, the Proteas needed someone to answer the call and the Ironman of South African cricket did exactly that as he scored a vital 136 enroute to mounting a crucial 147 run stand with his captain, Bavuma to get the title home.
One reckons, this man gives Robert Downey Jr. a run for his money, well in cricketing terms so to speak.
Simon Harmer – The One Who outspun the Indians in their own backyard
When any visiting team tours India, it’s not often that one sees the spinner of the visiting team topping the wicket taking charts in conditions where the Indian spinners are all but supposed to be the mighty kings.
Well, Simon Harmer did exactly that as he took 17 wickets across the two Tests outspinning the cream of the Indian bowling in Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.
This after his debut against the same opposition in the 2015-16 season was rather forgetful and he honed his craft in the county circuit taking over 1000 wickets for Essex before receiving a well-deserved call back into the Proteas setup and the rewards were for everyone to see.
That said….
As 2025 now draws to a close and the Proteas being all but upbeat looking to the new year, what are some of the crucial series that the intrepid fan can look forward to
The ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka (Feb-March 2026)
After being convincingly outplayed by India in the recent T20I series on Indian soil, South Africa’s head coach Shukri Conrad was rather forthright in his assessment.
He stressed that the tour was less about immediate results and more about acclimatising to Indian conditions and pitches, with the ICC T20 World Cup in the same country firmly in sight. If that truly was the underlying objective, one can only hope the Proteas convert this groundwork into a deep run at the global showpiece — and perhaps even go one step further, lifting the trophy in a land where they tasted recent Test success.
Inbound Tours from Australia and England (3 Match Test Series Each)
For the intrepid Proteas fan, the return of South Africa to a three-match Test series is some news worth every celebration.
This after the Men in Green and Gold only contested two-match Test series in the last Test cycle.
And the oppositions are also encouraging with the two top teams currently in world cricket making the trip to South Africa in Australia and England that undoubtedly will make both these series an edge of the seat affair.
After a year as successful as 2025, the hope is that South Africa carries this momentum seamlessly into 2026, steadily building towards the ultimate prize — lifting a maiden World Cup on home soil in 2027, when the ODI showpiece finally returns to Mzansi after nearly two and a half decades.
It would be a fitting culmination of a journey long marked by promise and perseverance. Above all, it would be a triumph powered by belief — belief that this time, at last, South Africa’s time has truly come in the shorter formats also