The South African cricket team arrived home to a hero’s welcome at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday morning, June 18, after winning the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 title.
South Africa Minister of Sport, Gayton McKenzie, met them at the airport as well as a huge number of people. The well-wishers were children and pupils to the past schools of the players like Aiden Markram who attended Pretoria Boys High School and family member like Wiaan Mulders brother.
The players were given time to autographs, take photographs and receive flowers and warm embrace. They were attired in specially designed t-shirts bearing the leader Champions text and at some point in the day arrived at the Cricket South Africa offices in the North of the city welcomed in by a brass band as well as a red carpet and made to party with unrestrained diligence.
Welcome home, World Champions 🇿🇦🏆!
A hero’s return for our ICC World Test Champions, our Proteas men's team 🔥💪!
Greeted with pride and celebration, the team touched down to a warm public reception and a special welcome from Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie 🇿🇦.
A moment of… pic.twitter.com/5Mo4OIxiRV
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 18, 2025The vibes are immaculate 🇿🇦🔥
A warm public reception as Mzansi welcomes home its ICC World Test Champions 🏏. #WozaNawe pic.twitter.com/Qb95Kc0T5X
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 18, 2025The Home of South African Cricket📍🏢
Our ICC World Test Champions arriving at the Cricket South Africa Head Office following their historic conquest of the World Test Championship 🏆🔥. #WTCFinal #ProteasWTCFinal #WozaNawe pic.twitter.com/1QefksmPvl
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 18, 2025“It is quite overwhelming. We haven’t seen people like that at the airport before. As players, you don’t really realise what you’ve done but when you start to interact with people and see the emotion, it gives you a proper insight into what we’ve done.”
Temba Bavuma
“We are proud as a team but we are even more happy and proud that we’ve made our people proud. If you look at this team and the guys at the helm, we have done it the proper South African way. That’s unique to this group. We have embraced everything that it means to be South African.”
Temba Bavuma
The Proteas’ victory in the WTC 2023-25 cycle was a monument to true teamwork, with nine different players named Player of the Match and 15 players hitting a century or taking five wickets. The captain made it clear that everyone in South Africa benefited from the win, not just the team or athletes.
“What we’ve achieved speaks to all budding cricketers out there, and individuals within South Africa. As a team, we’ve got a story. It hasn’t been a simple or easy one. We’ve come through a lot but we managed to get to where we are. So similarly for them (ordinary people) on their quest and journey, for what they want to achieve: as long as they keep having that passion and keep pushing they can also achieve what people think is unachievable.”
Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma Eyes Continued Success After WTC Win
Enoch Nkwe was appointed Director of Cricket in July 2022, and Shukri Conrad will be the head coach across all formats, including white-ball cricket, until the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Temba Bavuma has stated his desire that the team can finally win the trophy at home and is expected to captain the ODI team.
“We want to carry on with the momentum we’ve gained. We are quietly optimistic as to what can happen in the white-ball space. We see no reason as to why we can’t emulate what we’ve done here. We are more optimistic than anything. We had a little conversation about it. Shukri’s mind is always ticking. He lets you know that there’s always some sort of work you need to do.”
Temba Bavuma
