Bavuma, Markram and Magala turnarounds exemplify Proteas’ renewal

Sisanda Magala — unfit. Aiden Markram — not fulfilling his talent. Heinrich Klaasen — not good enough. Temba Bavuma — shouldn’t be there.

Not so long ago that was the narrative about players in the national team. Perspectives about SA cricket generally tilted towards the negative. Which was perfectly understandable. The national men’s team — still the most watched cricket side in the country — was bobbing along in a sea of mediocrity in the second half of 2022, having lost Test series in England and Australia — the latter comprehensively.

The T20 World Cup last November held much promise and then the team suffered a meltdown against the Netherlands and failed to qualify for the semifinals.

Bavuma cut a forlorn figure upon his return to the country. Qualification for the 50-over World Cup was made tougher by Cricket SA’s decision to cancel an ODI series with Australia, to have all the nationally contracted players back in the country for the new SA20 tournament.

There had been losses to Bangladesh — at home in 2022 — Sri Lanka and Ireland the year before. The Proteas appeared headed for a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in the middle of 2023 when pitches in Harare and Bulawayo would be “tired” and even though they would face lower-ranked opposition, those teams would know and pick away at the mental fragility which the Dutch so expertly exposed in Adelaide.

They may yet end up in Zimbabwe — but it will take Ireland to perform miraculously in three ODIs against Bangladesh in May. Any loss for the Irish in that series, a rained-out match or a failure to surpass SA’s net run rate on the Super League log, will result in the Proteas earning the last automatic qualification spot in India later this year.

Even if the Proteas do end up in Zimbabwe, there is a sense they would not shy away from attacking that tournament. Bavuma spoke openly of his acceptance that they may go there, which illustrated the new attitude of the side.

The tentativeness that was so apparent in that home series against Bangladesh in 2022, the lack of focus and the inconsistency which that bred, has given way to a team that now talk about playing freely, that is willing to accept they will make mistakes but is firm in their support of one another despite those errors.

“We are on the right track, the more we play and the more we bump our heads and figure things out, it will keep guiding us in the right direction,” said Aiden Markram.

Central to the revival has been Bavuma, who is playing like a man finally unshackled. He has scored three hundreds and an unbeaten 90 in the two formats in which he leads the team. That he has accepted the new ethos and illustrated it in the manner he has through performances has lifted the rest of the team.

“A guy like Temba is a wonderful human being, he’s a great advert for our country. It’s wonderful to be sharing a changeroom with him and the fact that he is playing exceptional cricket is a cherry on top for a guy who deserves that and is certainly not given enough credit for what he has gone through,” said limited overs coach Rob Walter.

Bavuma has acknowledged that he felt more support in the last few months than at any stage in the last three years. That’s a familiar theme, which Markram touched on when talking about Sisanda Magala.

“Sisi is a very basic guy. If he’s got backing, he is going to break his back for you,” said Markram, who was Magala’s captain at the Sunrisers Eastern Cape during the SA20. “He’s felt that backing and through a few performances, naturally players feel like they belong at this level and they can compete, which he has shown a few times.”

There will be an inclination from cynics to point out that the opposition recently were “only” the West Indies and the Netherlands. England too were not pressing too hard in that One-Day series as they are still experimenting for the World Cup.

However, SA needed to create a new outlook. What has taken place since January has really been about them and no-one else. Players who were not good enough, unfit and not fulfilling their promise have a renewed focus — and for now that deserves praise.