Has South Africa Just Set the Unthinkable Record in Tests?

South Africa has set a new record in the Test format. And this record is not with the bat and ball, it is with the captaincy. Having four different captains in four consecutive Tests, the team has in a new record in the Test format.

The World Test Championship 2023-25 winners, South Africa, are keen to set new records. Fans do talk about their winning streak in the Test format, which is setting a benchmark. But only a few of them know about the

This record was made by the team when its Test match against Pakistan started. With that match, South Africa has brought four different captains for four consecutive Tests. This helped them to break the record of Australia, which once brought three captains for three consecutive Tests.

1. South Africa

South Africa travelled with four captains to four different Test matches this year. The whole situation began when the team faced the Australian team in the finals of the World Test Championship 2023-25. The captain of the team at this time was Temba Bavuma. The victory was achieved by 5 wickets by the team, and they won their first ICC championship in this century.

South Africa then had a series of Tests against Zimbabwe. This was a two-match Test series, and the first game was headed by Keshav Maharaj. South Africa continued its winning streak, scoring a 328-run win.

Maharaj did not remain a captain in the second Test. Wiaan Mulder was the new skipper of the team named to play that game because Maharaj did not play the game. Although they had three captains in consecutive games, they still won. South Africa won by an inning and 236 runs over Zimbabwe.

But this was not the end of their captaincy change. In the first Test match against Pakistan, the team had a new captain. And this time it was Aiden Markram, who received the Player of the Match award in the WTC final. This has made South Africa the one and only team to have four captains in four consecutive Test matches.

2. Australia

With this unthinkable record, South Africa has even surpassed Australia. The Kangaroos created this unwanted record in 2021, when a captaincy shift took place. During the last Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020/21, Tim Paine led the team.

However, Australia lost this game by 3 wickets. As India won a historic victory, Tim Paine also resigned as the captain. The new captain of the team was declared as Pat Cummins before the Ashes. He captained the team in the first Test that was to be played at Brisbane.

Cummins had a great start as a skipper. Australia started off the Ashes with a 9-wicket victory over England. But just before the second Test, Pat Cummins tested positive for COVID-19. Due to this reason, he was unavailable to play and Steven Smith was made the stand-in captain.

The second Test was being played in Adelaide with Smith at the toss. With this, Australia had placed three captains in three consecutive Test matches. Smith led the Australian team to win this game by 275 runs, continuing the lead which was already given by Pat Cummins from the first game.