Bavuma credential test before Tests

Right Man for the Job, without egg-shells

    It’s not the quantity of training that counts most towards sporting success, it’s the quality. That old saying about ’10,000 hours’ doesn’t count for much if most of them are spent yacking and sipping Energade.

    Preparing for a Test series used to involve at least three first-class matches but that isn’t possible these days, for anyone. In fact, more and more players are having to make do with 50-over cricket in the build-up to Test matches. It’s not the end of the world. Top order batters have the chance to spend three hours at the crease without the need to unduly force the pace and bowlers have 10 overs to find some rhythm.

    Temba Bavuma had three such games before facing one of the best bowling attacks in Test cricket, and they were ODIs, too, not just domestic games. And they would have been for ‘his’ team, too, the one he captains. A potential 150 overs of batting and over 20 hours of cricket in his legs. It would have been against a white ball, of course, but it’s the intensity of the contest which counts.

    But he chose not to play in the ODIs against India, opting instead for a Lions four-day match against the Hollywoodbets Dolphins at Kingsmead. The risk of rain in Durban at this time of year, and the chance that he might get an early, unplayable ball from Daryn Dupavillon, meant there was a chance his ‘quality time’ at the crease might last one ball.

    In fact, it won’t even last that long. He has withdrawn from the match.

    No player’s place in any team should be beyond discussion, even as captain. Not for long, anyway. Bavuma had a poor World Cup with the bat but it wasn’t a disaster. A century opening partnership with Quinton de Kock and batting through most of the Power Play without losing a wicket provided some mitigation. 

    As head coach Rob Walter said after the semi-final defeat, “…he was the lead man in just getting us here so I have the utmost faith and confidence in him.” Bavuma’s 109 from 102 balls against England in Bloemfontein in January, in the first match of a series the Proteas needed to win to avoid the potential nightmare of pre-qualification, was amongst the best in South Africa’s ODI history – given the pressure he was under personally, the quality of the opposition and what was at stake. It gave him vast reserves of credit in the selection bank, but it doesn’t last forever.   

    There have been a number of talking points over the last three months, none of which in isolation is remotely close to red-flag territory but, collectively, they should add up to the aforementioned conversation.

    The first was when the captain left India to return home hours later for to attend to “a private matter.” Every parent deserves the right to privacy when it comes to the birth of their children but it’s considerably more difficult for the captain of a national sports team. Paternity leave may have been regarded as an indulgent luxury 20 years ago but is now a badge of honour.

    Having spent many hours in the air to return home for the birth, Bavuma just made it on-time to the marquee ‘Captains Press Conference’ where he struggled, understandably, to keep his eyes open. The moment would have been easily defused with a cheerful admission that it had been ‘a long 48 hours for the best of reasons’ and would have won him many admirers. Instead, he said he was ‘just resting his eyes’ and blamed the camera angle for making it look like he was dozing off.

    More peculiar was the fact that Reeza Hendricks had just 10 minutes notice before playing against England in the Wankhede Stadium. Bavuma had been feeling unwell on the morning of the game but was convinced that he would ‘shake it off’ during warm-ups. He did not – he had a fever.

    However remote he thought the likelihood was that he would miss the match, it would be a normal courtesy to give his teammate notice that he might be on more than the usual standby.

    That was followed by the shemozzle over his fitness before the semi-final against Australia. As much as the coaching staff and management were responsible for the lack of clear communication, the confusion emanated from the captain.

    Bavuma’s increasing eccentricity is endearing in many ways. The perception that cricket captains, especially national ones, should be amongst the more conventional members of the team is illogical and incorrect. A touch of good-humoured madness is probably essential to cope with the variety and vagaries of the job. The strength of Bavuma’s personality, his determination through adversity, is nothing less than inspirational. South African cricket, especially Cricket South Africa, needs him. But he needs to play.

    The reason for his withdrawal from the Lions’ game against the Dolphins? “A personal matter.” Bavuma has the right to privacy. And CSA have the right to expect their nationally contracted players to be as well-prepared as possible for their playing obligations.     

    Bavuma remains emphatically the right man for the job, but he will be even better if he does it in an environment where questions can be asked and conversations had without concern about egg-shells underfoot.