AUSTRALIA TOUR OF SA
Zaahier Adams|Published
Gqeberha — Kingsmead was a disaster in more ways than one.
Not only did the Proteas lose the first Test of the summer, but the poor turnout was an embarrassment to Cricket SA and the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union.
Furthermore, Temba Bavuma had a Test to forget in a hurry. The Proteas captain could not come up with plans to prevent Australia from recovering from 124/6 to 390.
And he looked rusty with the bat, getting out to part-timer Matt Renshaw when his team were battling to save the Test.
On cue, it triggered all the Bavuma haters to come out of the closet they had been hiding in since the WTC Final last year to spread their vitriol once again.
But it was not required. Away from the spotlight of the cameras, Bavuma knew the ugly truth.
A complete professional doesn’t need others telling him that he underperformed. In his heart of hearts, he knew he needed to respond quickly here in the second Test at St George’s Park.
“I think, obviously, when you front up to the media, you try to keep a straight face,” Bavuma said after being named Player of the Match for his career-best 179, which helped the Proteas level the series.
“But when you're there alone in your room, you can't kind of lie to yourself. You definitely have many conversations.”
Bavuma revealed that those conversations range from deep technical analysis to mental preparation.
“I mean, you do the whole thing. You analyse your batting innings,” he said.
“You look at it from a technical point of view, if there's anything that sticks out.
“But I think, from a mental point of view, you kind of tune yourself to making sure that you're ready for battle. You're out to compete.
“And if the opportunity is there, you want to make the play for the team.
“So, I guess for me, it was a lot of that from a mental point of view.”
He also put the throwing arms of batting coach Ashwell Prince and performance analyst Baakier Abrahams to the test in the build-up to and during the St George’s Park Test.
“I've been struggling for rhythm since the start of the season, throughout the ODI series and even building up to the first Test,” he said.
“I guess that's a result of not having played for a while and then coming up against a quality attack like that. Me being in the nets was always about trying to find that feeling.
“I don't know how else I could explain it. Not so much from a technical point of view, but just the feeling that I could hold on to and be able to compete out there in the middle.”
The fact that it was the skipper who stood up against the might of Australia will have a significant ripple effect across the Proteas dressing room heading to Newlands.
RECOMMENDED READ
Man for a crisis ... Five times Temba Bavuma carried the Proteas under pressure
The Aussies thrive on “cutting off the head of the snake”, but Bavuma’s response has shown that the World Test champions are capable of counterpunching in their bid to defend their title.
“I think sometimes, as a team, we forget that the target is on our back. And everyone wants to have a go at us,” Bavuma said.
“Everyone wants us to show our mettle as the current world champions. And everything that we do is under the microscope, if I could call it that.
“So I think our performance, the game against Durban, was a realisation of that. But also a realisation of what it means to come up against super-strong opposition.
“So I think, again, from a pride point of view, from a belief point of view, we've definitely strengthened that by being able to perform like that. From a pressure point of view, an expectation point of view, that's probably going to keep increasing individually, but within a team.
“And I guess the case for us is just to keep embracing that, keep going towards that pressure rather than kind of allowing it to hit us in the face.”