CAPE TOWN - For a team that has lost only one Test all season, South Africa are still a side with plenty of questions hovering around them in New Zealand.
Despite home series wins over the Black Caps (1-0) and Sri Lanka (3-0), in addition to the historic away triumph over Australia (2-1), this hard-earned success has not quite unearthed all the solutions coach Russell Domingo and captain Faf du Plessis would have been seeking at the beginning of the season.
Dean Elgar, hopefully, provided at least one in the drawn Dunedin Test last week with a career-best 140 in the first innings before following that up with 89 in the second. The feisty opener, no doubt, can finally say after 33 Tests: “It’s mine now”, referring to his spot.
However, his partner, Stephen Cook, cannot make such bold declarations after scoring a total of three runs at the University Oval. The back-to-back centuries against Australia (Adelaide) and Sri Lanka (Port Elizabeth) seem a long way away with the veteran contributing just 43 runs in five innings since.
Equally, JP Duminy’s classy 155 in the final Test against the Sri Lankans is drifting from memory. And then there’s Temba Bavuma.
For all Bavuma’s potential, his last seven visits to the crease in Tests prior to the New Zealand tour, had yielded only 50 runs, with a highest score of 21. It would be safe to assume that the Lions right-hander would probably have been the batsman left out to accommodate ODI captain AB de Villiers’s return to the Test side. But as fate would have it, De Villiers opted out of this New Zealand series and subsequent Tour to England, which has allowed Bavuma the opportunity to battle on.
And like the little warrior that he is, Bavuma fought bravely in South Africa’s first innings in Dunedin with a determined 62 to keep the Proteas afloat and can now look forward to the second Test in Wellington with renewed confidence.
“I do feel that I was able to get some kind of batting rhythm,” Bavuma said. “Mentally, it was just being up for the fight, understanding that there will be pressure situations and just trying to find a way to get through those.”
Bavuma is certainly developing into the man the Proteas call on during a crisis. With SA dominating the Sri Lankans, there was no need for any rearguard efforts. But in Australia, he struck two gritty half-centuries in Perth and Hobart when his team required it more than ever - just like in the first Test in New Zealand.
He possesses a compact technique, utilising a solid method with bat and pad close together when pushing forward, and drives well off the back foot through a good transfer of weight. Throw in a solid temperament and he has, arguably, a formula for success in Test cricket.
These are qualities which are already appreciated within the confines of the Proteas dressing-room, but Bavuma knows that potential and promise now need to be converted into three-figure scores on a more regular basis.
“Obviously, one is never happy, never satisfied with getting a 50 or a 60, we know that for the team, especially batting in the middle order, we’ve got to get those big runs to put the team in a strong position. I will just try and build on that and not sleep on what happened in Dunedin,” Bavuma explained.
“Stats are a big part of cricket, especially as a batter. At the end of the day, you are judged on your stats. My mentality is always to try and contribute to the team but there is that fine balance of making sure your numbers are also in order. That’s probably the most disappointing thing thus far with my international career. I have contributed to the side but probably my numbers don’t justify all of that.”
A century at the Basin Reserve will go a long way towards helping solve a Domingo and Du Plessis’ conundrum.