Temba Bavuma opens up about career: ‘I will always keep fighting’

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma showed that hard work will eventually pay off in the long run, when he stroked his way to a career best Test score of 171 not out on Friday’s third day of the second Test against the West Indies at the Wanderers.

Bavuma has had a difficult career for the Proteas, with many people questioning whether he was good enough, while a lot of criticism was levelled at his nearly man status after he had only scored one century, while notching up 20 half centuries in 95 Test innings before this current match.

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However he put all that behind him on Friday to once again bail his side out of a difficult situation, as he has done many times before, but this time received enough support to be able to convert to a massive score.

‘Lot of downs’

After the day’s play a relieved Bavuma admitted his career had seen more downs than ups, but that he continued to fight none-the-less.

“You always have to keep your head down. Throughout my career I have gone through a lot of downs. There have been a couple of ups. But I have learnt from an emotional point of view to ride with your form,” said Bavuma.

“In cricket, things can happen very quickly. So I also have it in my head that anything can happen the next day.  You just need to always keep your head down.

“I will always keep fighting. That’s the biggest thing in your career. You have to keep fighting, whatever people say and whatever happens around you, you just have to keep going.”

After the opening Test against the Windies, which was Bavuma’s first as Proteas Test captain, the critics were out in force once again after he made a pair of ducks, becoming just the fourth captain in cricket history to have fallen for two ducks on captaincy debut.

He also became the 25^th captain overall to have fallen for two ducks in the same Test, joining two other South Africans in AB de Villers and Faf du Plessis on that list.

This made him doubt himself, however he emphatically shattered those doubts with his performance on Friday.

“Someone asked me if I am ready for the pressures that come with the captaincy within the Test team and I told them I wasn’t sure. After the first Test I really got to understand what those pressures were,” explained Bavuma.

“But being captain you need to be the guy that leads from the front, whatever your discipline is, and that’s what I tried to do.

“Obviously getting a score like this early on in my captaincy in the Test format is a big confidence boost and hopefully things can go from strength to strength from here.”

Batting struggles

The Proteas batting struggles in their previous Test series against Australia down under, in December and January, was a huge learning curve for Bavuma and the rest of the order, and he believes that has made him a better player.

“That was my take away from that (Australia) series. Coming up against that bowling attack in those types of conditions really tested you. It really asked for the best of us, and we unfortunately came unstuck,” said Bavuma.

“But I have tried to take on those learnings, not just within the Test stuff but also in the one day stuff. The main thing is to find ways to put pressure on the bowlers.

“Quality bowlers are not going to give you (many) freebies, so you can’t really sit there and hope for a half volley. You need to find a way to score off there good balls as well.”

Bavuma will now start the fourth day of the second Windies Test with Keshav Maharaj at the crease and the Proteas on 287/7 in their second innings, having already built up a potentially match winning lead of 356 runs.

Bavuma will possible be eyeing a first ever double century, with his highest ever score to date coming in a first class match for the Lions against the Dolphins in 2020 where he struck 180 runs.

Hopefully the captain will be able to pull it off and that the tail will be able to help him reach what would be an inspiring milestone for not only Bavuma, but the entire team, with him admitting that leading by doing is much more effective than by talking.

“It is very important. As a leader you can speak as much as you want, but the guys really believe it when they see it out there on the pitch. Especially when it comes in a pressure moment, it adds that extra bit of layer making it more important,” said Bavuma.

“So I am glad that we are in this position, and that I am in this position as well. Not to think too far ahead but we still have a lot to do out there tomorrow.”