Proteas' focus shifts focus to white-ball format with next Test a distant dream for fans

South Africa are officially the best Test cricket side in the world after their five-wicket win over Australia on Saturday, 14 June 2025, in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s.

The nation rejoiced in a victory that was nearly 3o years in the making. Tournament after tournament of heartbreak later, the Proteas finally delivered meaningful silverware to the cabinet.

So, when will South Africans get to watch the world champions play the format in front of them again? October 2026 is the answer. That’s right — only then.

Eighteen months on from their historic victory is when they will play in a Test at home. The opponents will be Australia, in a three-match series.

The next time the Proteas run out in white clothes and bowl with a red ball in front of a home crowd, their crowning moment will be a distant memory. South Africa will host eight Test matches in the summer of 2026-27 — two matches against Bangladesh sandwiched in between three-match series against Australia and England.

And this summer of 2025-26? Zero. For the first time since readmission, South Africa will not host any Test matches over the course of their summer season. In fact, the Proteas will only host five matches all summer, and they’re all in the shortest format: West Indies touring the country for five T20Is in January and February 2026.

All about the white ball next

South Africa’s next few months are littered with white-ball cricket as they look to build for the one-day international (ODI) ICC World Cup at home, staged in 2027.

South Africa head to Zimbabwe for a two-match Test series — which doesn’t count for the next WTC cycle — before a tri-series T20I tournament in the country, which includes New Zealand.

They then travel to Australia and England in August and September for three ODIs and three T20Is in each country. After that they fly over to the subcontinent through the early summer months to take on Pakistan and India, which will each host two Test matches and three ODIs before Pakistan host three T20Is and India host five.

With the national team’s home summer so sparse, the fourth season of the SA20 will start a few weeks earlier than usual, on Boxing Day, to ensure some cricket content in the period so often associated with Test cricket in the country. It’s somewhat ironic that the SA20 is filling this space, and it paints a picture of the changing landscape of the sport.

The Proteas’ WTC charge was almost derailed because of the first-choice players’ contractual obligation to play in the SA20 at the start of 2024, instead of touring New Zealand for a two-match series.

Not only did it put South Africa in a position where they had to win seven of their last eight matches to qualify for the final, which they did, it also helped the Black Caps beat the Proteas in a Test series for the first time in the sport’s history.

Although it looks like a steady overhaul of the shortest format in favour of the longest one, those who still play the red-ball game want to see it maintain its relevance.

‘Favourite format’

“It’s always been my most important and favourite format,” said Aiden Markram, the WTC final’s player of the match.

“Naturally, playing fewer games is not really on us — it’s just the cards that get dealt. But it’s really important, in my opinion, to keep Test cricket as the number one priority in South Africa.

“We understand all the dynamics that are happening in the cricket world and that’s completely fair, but it’s more about the young guy coming through — that his main thing is to get a Test match baggy and play Test match cricket for South Africa.

“If we can still do that, it’s fine. How long they play for is a different conversation in the world of cricket nowadays.

“But the number one priority should always be to play Test cricket and I’ve always felt that, believed that. If we can get that back with the younger people coming through, I think we’ve done well.”

South Africa’s Test tour to Zimbabwe is littered with talented youngsters. Lhuan-dre Pretorius (19) and Dewald Brevis (22)  have lit up T20 tournaments in the past, and they are the two standout young names who are expected to make their debut in South Africa’s first match as champions.

World Cup in South Africa

There was some criticism of the strength of the opposition South Africa faced on their road to the WTC final, as they didn’t meet Australia or England prior to the final. Even though England only won half of their WTC fixtures, their reputation as being among the “Big Three” somehow invalidated South Africa’s charge.

This time round, in the 2025-27 cycle, South Africa will play England and Australia at home as well as playing India away.

“We play whatever’s put in front of us,” Proteas coach Shukri Conrad said. “There’s a lot of things we’d like but we can’t get. We just play the cards we’re dealt. And it’s often not what you’ve been dealt, but how you play those cards.”

ICC World Cup

With the influx of white-ball cricket, though, the focus does shift to succeeding at the 2027 ICC World Cup on home soil. So much of South Africa’s planning over the past few years has been about winning the tournament, including the hiring of director of national teams and high performance Enoch Nkwe, whose contract runs until the end of it.

This WTC win, though warmly welcomed, wasn’t part of the long-term planning like the 2027 ICC World Cup is. Conrad has taken over the white-ball sides too, and players such as superstar Kagiso Rabada have had their appetite for success whetted with the victory at Lord’s.

“This has obviously given us confidence that we can do it again,” Rabada said. “I don’t know how I would be feeling if the result went the other way around, but let’s not think too much about that.

“This gives confidence for the future, and confidence comes from doing good things.”

South Africa will hope that the WTC win will inspire Rabada and company to go on and break the nation’s World Cup duck as well in 2027, with everything being set up for them to succeed at home. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.