Cape Town - When walking into the newly-renovated Langa Cricket Club clubhouse, the first thing that catches the eye is the neatly framed memorabilia that adorn the plastered walls.
While this may be the norm at many other cricket clubs around the world, there is an extra significance to these decorations due to South Africa’s segregated past. Being the playing shirts of international and franchise cricketers that have emerged from Langa, it not only represents excellence but also the hopes and dreams of a better life for many of the children in the area.
“I received a very warm welcome from the people, especially the kids when I went back,” says Langa’s new favourite son and Proteas star batsman Temba Bavuma.
“I’ve also noticed there are a lot more kids playing in the streets, which is quite a warming thing for me. I think the people are happier about what I achieved than I am.”
The unadulterated pride and joy that the people of Langa feel towards Bavuma was certainly surging through veins of the majority of the land on the fifth day of 2016 when a man, who only stands 1.67m in his socks, was arguably the biggest man in the land. Unified South African cricket had waited 25 years for a Black African batsman to register a Test century, and when the backdrop was the picturesque Newlands and the opposition England, the emotions gushed like a burst drain pipe.
Bavuma was instant national hero. If he thought his life had changed when he became an international cricketer a year earlier when he debuted in the Boxing Day Test against the West Indies, he was now and forever the property of the state. . Alongside Cricket SA’s fellow poster boy Kagiso Rabada, he forms part of a new generation of cricketers that are not only expected to perform on the field but also be trailblazers for the masses to follow.
This might usually prove too much for a young man aged just 26. But with the same calmness that he showed during the verbal roasting England’s talisman Ben Stokes offered up when Bavuma first came to the crease en route to that historic century, he displays an equally re-assuring straight bat when confronted with his new-found pressures.
“I think transformation is quite a relevant topic within South African cricket, with CSA and all the relevant bodies and affiliates pushing the transformation objective within the game and tonight was testament to all the efforts for what everyone has done,” Bavuma said in reference to Rabada’s six prizes and his one at the CSA Awards this week.
“I think personally I’ve had a lot of time to think about what happened at Newlands and what it meant to me and the entire country. I haven’t played cricket for three months, just lazing around the couch, gymming, trying to get big (laughs) but it’s given me time to realise that Newlands has come and gone. I’ve re-assessed and have set new goals and new ambitions.”
It is clear Bavuma has no intention to be remembered as that “one-hit wonder” with only his painting on the walls of the Langa clubhouse to look back on.
He wants more, and is determined to work his way into the Proteas across the limited-overs formats too. He understands though that, “I need to put the numbers on the board to increase the pressure because there are other guys ahead of me”.
He will not have the opportunity on the upcoming South Africa A tour to Australia as he is not part of the one-day squad, but will instead be preparing for his “bread and butter job” in the unofficial Test series against his Australian counterparts.
Bavuma views this is as double opportunity, with New Zealand just across the border in Zimbabwe ahead of next month’s two-Test series against the Proteas and the Proteas full Test tour to Australia later this year.
“From a Test point of view, I wouldn’t say I am an established player. There are quality players around me. I still regard every chance I get as an opportunity. I haven’t played a lot of cricket in a while, so I am looking forward to getting out there again. It will be good competitive cricket for the upcoming season. I would like to keep improving my game and this Australian tour will help with that.”
Cape Argus