Temba Bavuma

Guided early on by Geoffrey Toyana, a former first-class cricketer, Bavuma made his first-class debut for Gauteng in 2008 and later joined the Lions. Steady output there earned him the vice-captaincy for 2013-14. After several seasons among the leading run scorers, he was picked for the Test series against the West Indies late in 2014. His debut returned 10 and 15, but a half-century in Bangladesh in mid-2015 caught the attention of captain Amla.

His defining moment came in January 2016, in the second Test against England at Cape Town, when he struck his maiden Test century. Later that year he made a hundred on his ODI debut against Ireland, becoming only the second South African to achieve that. Critics, however, often noted his habit of not converting good starts. He made a pair of fifties in Australia, struggled at home against Sri Lanka, and then added two more half-centuries in New Zealand.

After some years on the edge of the side, he took advantage of openings left by retiring senior players and was established across all formats by 2019. In March 2021 he succeeded Quinton de Kock as limited-overs captain. Hamstring, thumb and elbow injuries then kept interrupting his availability. He captained South Africa at the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup while badly out of form. Despite leading the T20I team, he went unpicked in the first SA20 league, saying it left him feeling "let down and disappointed".

He kept the ODI captaincy and scored heavily in home series before the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. There his form deserted him, and he managed only 145 runs at an average of 18. Even so, he remains a central figure for South Africa while still battling injuries and inconsistency.