Ashwell Prince issues message to future Proteas generations

South Africa's ICC World Test Championship-winning men's team touched down at OR Tambo Airport earlier today, with the Mace in-hand, as they rightfully received a hero's welcome following their success at Lord's in England last weekend.

Prince, who formed a crucial part of head coach Shukri Conrad's technical staff, says the joys of winning a major trophy with the Proteas badge on your chest trumps any lucrative reward of playing in the T20 global leagues.

"Well, you're hoping that the young kids will aspire to play test cricket as much as they aspire to play the short format, the T20s and all that. Something I said in the dressing room to the players before the match, there are lots of badges in the world,” Prince said.

“T20 badges for a lot of teams that are in the world and you can earn a lot of money but only this badge can give you the opportunity to walk out in the middle Lords and represent your country and do what they have done. 

“Only this badge can give you this opportunity so for every young player, don't ever forget that."

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Despite his work bearing fruit, as Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma notched up an instrumental century and half-century respectively, Prince insisted the credit should go to those who step out onto the pitch.

"In the background, the boys have to go out there into the crowd and do the business. We just try and prepare them the best that we can. Yeah, look, we're just in the back trying to prepare them as best as we can but all the credit must go to the boys," he added.

With the monkey finally off the Proteas Men's backs, following their shortcomings at critical moments over the last two-and-a-half decades, Prince also paid homage to previous generations for their foundations laid for the current crop's success.

"Listen, absolutely, I mean Aiden Markram I would say he played a Graeme Smith type of innings in the fourth innings, Graeme Smith probably has the best record in the world in terms of chasing scores down in the fourth innings.

“KG [Kagiso] Rabada following in the steps of Makhaya [Ntini] and those guys. He just fell one wicket short and nearly got 10 wickets at Lords like Makhaya. So, absolutely, the boys from previous generations definitely laid the foundation."