Ken Borland

Temba Bavuma on Friday added another seminal moment in South African cricket history, to join with his memorable maiden Test century at Newlands in 2016, as his masterful 171 not out first rescued the Proteas and then put them in firm control of the second Test against the West Indies at the Wanderers.

When the long-awaited moment of his second Test century came, one that will hopefully silence the critics who constantly bring up that statistical quirk and ignore the fact he has been South Africa’s best Test batsman for the last couple of years, it came with a flourish as he lashed fast bowler Alzarri Joseph over the covers for his 12^th four. It’s a bit like refusing to rate Jacques Kallis as a great batsman before he scored a Test double-hundred.

Even though the third-day crowd at the Wanderers was small, the joy was obvious, especially in the commentary boxes where former Black African players like Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam and Nono Pongolo celebrated with a passion that showed just how special and important Bavuma is for the majority of this country.

Those commentary boxes are in the Charles Fortune Media Centre, and one wonders how the doyen of South African radio commentary would have described the moment as Bavuma went to 100 in 254 minutes, off 192 balls. Perhaps the great John Arlott would have been better suited to capture the moment, given that he once wrote “human” on a South African customs form asking him what race he belonged to back in the dark days of Apartheid.

As usual, after he had led the Proteas from a parlous eight for two to 287 for seven at stumps, leading by 356, Bavuma had to field questions both about what happened on the field on Friday and the wider significance his exploits will have for society as a whole.

“It’s been a long journey with a lot more downs than ups,” he stated. “But I keep learning about myself, the type of person and cricketer that I am. I try and keep my chin up and always stay true to myself.

“That Temba who scored the hundred at Newlands was very young and naïve, I was ignorant to what was going on around me and the pressures and challenges of playing international cricket.

“Making it against the West Indies is sentimental and makes it even more special because I used to support them as a child. It’s also important because it’s about inspiring the next generation, allowing much more Black African batters to dream and come through and etch their name in the record books.

“There’s always that angle and perspective to everything I do. I’m sure young Temba would be very proud of this Temba today,” Bavuma said.

But the 32-year-old Bavuma made it clear that his motivation and satisfaction on Friday night had more to do with rescuing his team than reaching individual milestones, no matter how sought after they have been.

This was the sort of Wanderers pitch on which anyone who dares to chase runs is likely to come short and many of Bavuma’s team-mates were guilty of going too hard. Dean Elgar (5) and Tony de Zorzi (1) both fell looking to score off deliveries they would have been better off leaving.

Aiden Markram (18) hung around with Bavuma and tried to steady the ship, but Kemar Roach had Markram caught behind with a superb delivery.

Ryan Rickelton (10) and Heinrich Klaasen (14) were then both lured into loose strokes and South Africa were 103 for five, leading by just 172.

Even with the hot sun beating down on the pitch, there were still plenty of embers of life in the surface, but Bavuma, diminutive but standing tall as a giant, doused the West Indian attack. Staying compact and not chasing after deliveries outside the stumps, leaving well and putting away anything on his pads, Bavuma played one of the great pressure knocks in a Proteas second innings in recent times.

Wiaan Mulder dug deep and scored an invaluable 42 as he added 103 for the sixth wicket with Bavuma; Simon Harmer then contributed 19 runs, but more usefully, added another 71 with his captain.

Bavuma made it to stumps having batted for more than six hours and faced 275 deliveries, stroking 20 fours.

“It’s a key point that the team was in trouble. I always seem to find myself in these situations when I really have to try and soak up pressure, absorb and release,” Bavuma said. “I’ve done it well in the past, but without getting really big scores, and my game kinda leans towards that.

“It was a very important partnership with Wiaan, I tried to calm him down by saying he had nothing to prove because he’s done it before for the Lions and in county cricket.

“We had good synergy and the partnership with Simon was also important. It’s about the team and we are in a lot stronger position now.

“My mindset was just to stick to what I was doing. Getting a hundred was not the objective, it was getting to the end of the day’s play. It was more mentally tiring than physically, but the adrenaline kept me going,” Bavuma said.

The new South African Test captain is far too polite to publicly rub his many critics’ faces in his success, but he did say there was one monkey he now has off his back.

“I’ve never scored a first-class hundred at the Wanderers before and the guys always tease me about that, my name not being up on the honours board. I’m pleased I can stick it to them now,” a satisfied Bavuma said with a glint in his eye.

The skipper, a hero to so many in this country, produced a truly heroic performance of which he can be most proud. What a pity that with so many good things happening around this Proteas Test team, their next outing is only in December.

Not once has South African men’s hockey coach Garreth Ewing suggested that the FIH Hockey Pro League will be anything but daunting, and it will get no easier for his team as their next assignment sees them travel to Argentina to play the 2016 Olympic champions in two Tests on April 23 and 24.

Having hosted a leg of the tournament in Potchefstroom in February, in which they lost all eight matches and conceded 52 goals against Germany, France, India and the Netherlands, South Africa are now well aware of the high standards in the competition.

“It was harder than we expected, I must admit,” Ewing told The Citizen. “But it was really disappointing that it took us a bit long to adjust to the tempo, admittedly against very good sides.

“There was improvement through the tournament though and we were quite disappointed not to get a couple of results in the end.

“Although it was a mentally and physically tough tournament for us, it was a very valuable exercise based on the squad we had, the rotation of players and the opportunities we gave them.

“We also made some tactical progress in terms of the areas of the game without the ball – how you pressurise the ball and utilise space. And there were glimpses of good counter-attack,” Ewing said.

South Africa will be bringing a new-look squad to Argentina, due to the unavailability of some of their players, the bulk of whom are amateurs. But, on the positive side, regular captain Tim Drummond returns, having been absent during the local leg of the Pro League.

“We’ve had selection issues and the unavailability of players is an ongoing challenge. So there will be quite a few changes,” Ewing said.

“Having Tim back will make a big difference, especially in terms of his experience and leadership. We’re playing in Buenos Aires, so we’ll be up against big crowds, which we are not used to over the last couple of years.

“There are still some technical weaknesses we need to sort out, both in attack and defence, in terms of how we hang on to the ball when we have it and the pressure we exert without the ball.

“There was a bit of a lack of continuity due to getting things wrong at just the wrong time. But at times we were really good but just didn’t get good outcomes. We would get to the circle but just not get the ball in the goals,” Ewing said.

Curwin Bosch was considered a mint talent when he arrived at Kings Park in 2016, but is almost a forgotten Springbok these days. The 24-year-old’s latest comeback will happen on Wednesday night as he has been named as the Sharks’ starting flyhalf for their Currie Cup match against Western Province in Durban.

The Eastern Cape prodigy has played two Tests for South Africa, but the last of those was in June 2018. Bosch has not appeared in the United Rugby Championship since the Sharks’ match in Cardiff on October 16.

The rumour mill has been rife with speculation that the Sharks want to offload the bright and still young talent, despite their five-year investment in him, but CEO Eduard Coetzee has denied this.

“Curwin has had a bit of an unfortunate run, he had a hip flexor injury, but he’s back this week,” Coetzee said at the Sharks’ media weekend. “With the British and Irish Lions defeat and the Currie Cup final, he lost a bit of confidence.

“But we are looking to get him back in the team, even though he thinks his future may lie outside of the Sharks. We’ve given him time to get his head right and if he wants to stay with us then that would be cool.

“Curwin is an unbelievable rugby player who has won games for us. But sport is cruel. He’s a great kid though and it’s important that we look after him,” Coetzee said.

The presence of one Elton Jantjies at Kings Park over the weekend – ostensibly to visit his nephew who is at the Sharks Academy – could indicate there is further pressure, however, on Bosch’s future in Durban.

Adding the skills and trickery of Jantjies, all of it done flat to the gainline, to the powerful Sharks backline would be a mouthwatering prospect.

And Coetzee has admitted that they need to bolster their squad in order to challenge for URC honours and beyond.

“We gave away the most penalties at scrum time of any team – 3.8 per game – hence our signing of Globis [Georgian scrum coach Akvsenti Giorgadze] and Bongi Mbonambi.

“We had to ask ourselves, if Thomas du Toit goes down, we have another tighthead? So we are looking to bolster our tight five. I don’t think we’ll be signing any wings …

“It’s a balancing act because there are also transfer fees to consider and we have to wait for the right guy to come up. But by July 1, I’m confident we will have a squad that can win the URC.

“We are a global competitor and we are ambitious. We want to enter the Heineken Champions Cup and win it. We need older heads for that because age is the big difference between our teams and the overseas ones,” Coetzee said.

Tabraiz Shamsi has been in the shadow of Imran Tahir in white-ball cricket for most of his international career and is finally back in the Test squad after appearing in the longest format of the game just twice, in 2016 and 2018, and says he is eager to win games in all formats for the Proteas in the West Indies.

Shamsi has established himself as South Africa’s No.1 limited-overs spinner, winning the T20 Player of the Year award on Monday night and featuring in seven of their nine ODIs since the start of 2020. But it is his Test prospects which are perhaps most interesting.

The left-arm wrist-spinner took a wicket in each innings on Test debut against Australia in Adelaide in November 2016 and his second Test was against Sri Lanka in Galle in July 2018. Shamsi was threatening in the first innings, taking three wickets, and then added a single wicket in the second innings.

But that was his last Test appearance, although coach Mark Boucher did want to play him in a three-pronged spin attack in the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi in January, but Shamsi pulled out shortly before the toss with a back spasm.

“As far as the Test team goes, I feel like I have unfinished business, but I have to wait my turn and give it my all when the chance comes, I only think about winning games for my country. The role of a spinner is very important in the West Indies because their batsmen play calypso cricket, high-octane cricket, just playing shots. So a leg-spinner or a wrist-spinner can definitely turn the game there.

“It hasn’t been easy being behind Imran Tahir for so many years, just playing one or two games here and there, usually when we’ve already won the series. But you only really learn when you play regularly: If you make a mistake on Wednesday then you can try and rectify it on Friday and Sunday. Consistency of playing leads to better performances,” Shamsi said.

Confidence and consistent performances are certainly also products of having the same team together for a while and Shamsi is looking forward to the T20 squad playing some regular cricket now ahead of their World Cup in October/November. South Africa will play five T20s against the West Indies and three versus Ireland, as well as having series against Sri Lanka and India lined up.

“It will be nice to go into the World Cup with some confidence, but it is five months away. So I just want to keep improving and hopefully I’ll be in even better form then after quite a good last season. The World Cup will be in the subcontinent so this is a nice opportunity to fine-tune and come up with and perfect game-plans where the pitches are normally slow.

“We may get the same conditions at the World Cup so we want tough games now. The team maybe does not have a lot of caps, but we have all played a lot of domestic cricket. We know the skills in the squad and that gives us confidence, we know the firepower we have is really exciting. It’s not bad to be flying under the radar and I think we will surprise a few people,” Shamsi said.