The signs were there early and have remained for much of the past decade but they are not the signs typically recognised by the average cricket watcher. In July 2015, on a typically bare and difficult pitch in Chittagong, he top scored with 54 in a total of 248 eked from 83 overs. It was just his third Test match.
In November 2016, under thunderous, grey skies and on a fiercely grassed pitch, Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott bowled Australia out for 85 and SA slipped to 76/4 in reply. The series was at stake with SA having won the first Test. History beckoned — only the West Indies had ever won three consecutively in Australia.
Temba Bavuma’s 74 from 204 balls in a partnership of 144 with Quinton de Kock took them to a total of 326 and victory by an innings and 80 runs. Having never won a series in almost a century of trying, SA had completed a hat-trick.
Six months later, at Wellington’s Basin Reserve, it was even starker. The Proteas were 94/6 in reply to the home team’s 268. It was De Kock (91) and Bavuma (89) once again to the rescue, with a seventh wicket stand of 160 that led to an eight-wicket victory, all inside the first 20 of his 60 Tests.
Bavuma is the opposite of a flat-track bully. Give him a good pitch and a modest bowling attack on a sunny day and he can become the young cat with its first mouse — aware of what he’s supposed to do but unsure of exactly how to go about it, or unable. Mostly the prey has escaped.
Tough batting conditions have always brought out the best in Bavuma, his teammates’ struggles focusing his mind more sharply. Add a hefty dose of “context” and importance to the occasion and he becomes even better. Sports psychologists are divided about whether successful “high-pressure” athletes are conscious, in the moment, of the change in their performance. If they are, then why can’t they repeat it in low-pressure situations?
Test cricket may be Bavuma’s forte now but in January 2023, with the Proteas needing to beat word champions England in an ODI series to qualify automatically for the World Cup, he scored 109 from 102 balls in Bloemfontein to set up a successful chase of 342. The World Cup was at stake, after all.
So it should probably surprise nobody that he made 70 in extremely challenging conditions in the first innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Durban and added 113 in the second innings. A place in the final of the World Test Championship is at stake, after all.
“That was his best hundred and best Test match,” said coach Shukri Conrad, confirming the popular verdict of those who have watched his whole career. “He’s come off the back of a long layoff and he’s battled through some stuff, but that epitomises Temba and what we want to see in this team. That’s what we want to build this team around, not just the mental toughness but sometimes the physical toughness, too,” Conrad said.
‘Exceptional’
“Temba was exceptional in this Test match and that 70 went a long way to giving us something respectable to bowl to. Stubbo was exceptional too, and Marco was brilliant, but Temba was super-special in this Test match.”
Tristan Stubbs’ second Test century and Jansen’s extraordinary 7/13 and 11-wicket match haul contributed at least equally to SA’s victory but they may not have enjoyed quite the same opportunity if the first innings score had been 100 rather than 191.
It has not gone unnoticed that the current Test squad is not just devoid of “difficult” characters, but positively brimming with empathetic and generous ones. A workplace full of happy, trusting and trustworthy employees is bound to be successful.
“Nothing is ‘artificial’, they are a very authentic group of players and it’s something that we encourage. Just be yourself and we’ll make this thing work. But they are judged on results and performances, not the types of characters they are. But they are also supremely talented cricketers,” Conrad said.
Stubbs shines brightly both ways: “He’s the heartbeat of the team. The way he celebrated his hundred is the same way he celebrates when any of the bowlers take a wicket. He just loves playing cricket and playing for SA. He has so much energy and the rest of the guys feed off that. He trains harder than anyone else but he’s also the first to organise a tee-time for the golfers the next morning.”
Bavuma says the team are “not making too much noise” about their chances of playing the WTC final at Lord’s in June 2025. Somewhere, in the inner him, one suspects destiny may be calling.
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