Temba Bavuma at the 2025 Cricket South Africa awards at Emperors Palace on 31 July 2025 in Johannesburg. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images) 
A slew of prizes were dished out at the Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards ceremony last night. Left-arm finger spinners Keshav Maharaj and Nonkululeko Mlaba won the biggest awards on the evening: the men’s and women’s players of the year, respectively.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/TL_2409374.jpg "Keshav Maharaj was named SA Men's Player of the Year. (Photo by Paul Harding/Gallo Images)")
Mlaba came close to cleaning up on the women’s side, taking home the Players’ Player of the Year award as well as the T20I Player of the Year, while Kagiso Rabada claimed the Players’ Player Of The Year.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/B24JTFR0537.jpg "Nonkululeko Mlaba won the SA Women's Player of the Year. (Photo: Isuru Sameera Peiris / BackpagePix)")
Proteas men’s Test skipper Temba Bavuma received the Test Player of the Year award after a fantastic season with the willow in red-ball cricket.
He also clinched one of the smaller, but more significant prizes: Fans’ Player of the Year.
The award is decided by votes accumulated by spectators, with players from both the men’s and women’s national sides in the running for the prize. Past winners of the award include Laura Wolvaardt, AB de Villiers, Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock, players universally loved from their national team debut.
Bavuma’s journey of national adulation was less straightforward than the aforementioned group. For a period in the middle of his career, a few years back, the diminutive skipper was the player fans loved to hate.
He’d be the one blamed for every loss and any mistake he made would be magnified with millions of eyes waiting for their chance to pounce on it. If there was an award for the most criticised player, Bavuma would have swept it.
But now, having let his willow do the talking for him, Bavuma is one of the most-loved players in the team, underlined by receiving the fans’ prize.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/1776276697.jpg "Temba Bavuma of South Africa plays a shot during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup India 2023 between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens on 5 November 2023 in Kolkata, India. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)")
Hamstrung
The 2023 ODI World Cup in India was a particular lowlight for Bavuma and one he acknowledges as the lowest point of his career.
The opening batter and captain struggled with form and a hamstring niggle throughout the tournament. Nonetheless, the Proteas reached the semi-final of the tournament, but Bavuma was again dismissed cheaply as they lost to Australia by three wickets.
The skipper only managed 145 runs in eight innings at an average of 18.12 in the tournament. In a batting lineup that fired across the tournament, he seemed the odd one out.
He nearly missed the semi-final due to the hamstring injury but pushed through to lead the side in the important match. While admirable among the team, on the outside it was deemed a selfish decision to not step aside for a fully healthy player to take his place.
It’s ironic then that the same hamstring injury – which has plagued him since – and his willingness to fight through pain, is a big reason fans have grown to love the leader.
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Bavuma fought through the bad leg throughout the home summer, leading the side to four consecutive Test victories over Sri Lanka – top scoring with two centuries, and 504 runs at an average of 72 – to lead the side to the World Test Championship final.
There, again the nasty hamstring reared its painful head. Bavuma batted in the second innings of the run-chase against Australia at Lord’s, barely able to run but nonetheless contributed 66 vital runs in a 147-run second-wicket stand with opening batter Aiden Markram.
Bavuma battled through the pain and played a massive role in helping the Proteas achieve their first major ICC trophy, the World Test Championship mace. Being awarded as the Fans’ Player of the Year is unsurprising then but two years ago it was unimaginable.
It’s been two years of physical and mental pain, but the inspiring leader pushed through it to find his joy.
The skipper could rewrite those low moments even further, in the same format as the 2023 heartsore, by leading the side to their maiden World Cup trophy in 2027 at home. DM
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2203432218.jpg "Temba Bavuma of South Africa bats during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand at Gaddafi Stadium on 5 March 2025 in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo: Sameer Ali/Getty Images)")
2025 CSA international Award winners:
International Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Ottneil Baartman
Men’s T20I Player of the Year: Anrich Nortje
Men’s ODI Player Of The Year: Heinrich Klaasen
Men’s Test Player Of The Year: Temba Bavuma
Men’s Players’ Player Of The Year: Kagiso Rabada
SA Men’s Player of the Year: Keshav Maharaj
International Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Ayanda Hlubi
Women’s T20I Player of the Year: Nonkululeko Mlaba
Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Annerie Dercksen
Women’s Players’ Player of the Year: Nonkululeko Mlaba
SA Women’s Player of the Year: Nonkululeko Mlaba
SA Fans’ Player of the Year: Temba Bavuma