ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Why is Temba Bavuma not playing SA vs ENG match? Who is South Africa captain?

In a massive breaking news development, South Africa's regular captain Temba Bavuma is not playing their last league stage clash against England in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 being played at the National Stadium in Karachi. The Proteas kickstarted their campaign in this 50-overs tournament on an impressive note as they registered a brilliant 107-run victory over Afghanistan. South Africa have almost qualified for the semi-finals and if they manage to win this game, they will finish at the top position in the Group B. 

Why is Temba Bavuma not playing South Africa vs England CT 2025 match? Who is South Africa captain?

During the toss, South Africa's stand-in captain Aiden Markram revealed that Temba Bavuma was not available for this match against England on Saturday. Markram further stated that the South Africa regular captain is suffering with illness alongside batter Tony de Zorzi and thus, they both are missing this encounter. South Africa's most recent group stage match against Australia ended in a washout in Rawalpindi. Bavuma managed to score 58 runs off 76 deliveries in the opening clash against Afghanistan earlier during this ICC Champions Trophy 2025. 

On the other hand, the positive news for the Proteas is that the batting duo of Tristan Stubbs and Heinrich Klaasen are back in the side. Both these impactful batsmen will get some much-needed game time ahead of the important semi-final. 

"We are actually happy to chase, haven't chased in this comp yet, we are looking to chase against a strong English side. Two guys have had illness around the camp, Tony and Temba miss out. Unfortunate that they miss out but hopefully they will recover. Stubbs and Klaasen come into the side. Stubbs has a good technique, he will open the batting. Our last game got rained out, we had a few training sessions, we are ready for this game," said South Africa's stand-in captain Aiden Markram during the toss.

South Africa playing XI

Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

Toss 🪙:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England won the toss and have elected to bat first 🏏.

🇿🇦 Two changes for South Africa as Heinrich Klaasen comes back into the side for Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs replaces Temba Bavuma at the top.#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #ChampionsTrophy #ENGvSA pic.twitter.com/JFEntSrm8X

— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) March 1, 2025