Okay! I’ll Admit It! You got me thinking. I’m currently deep in thought. The last couple of weeks has been rough.
I found myself in a stressful predicament, where I was standing up for the Proteas captain, Temba Bavuma. He was getting relentless criticism after two comfortable wins.
I was standing up against the anger-fuelled criticism, sometimes racially-charged abuse thrown at Bavuma when he performs poorly by some fans. The last two sentences may set some of you off, and there’s rage and guilt swirling inside you, and the reason for that is because you know that I speak the truth. Bavuma gets nasty, unnecessary criticism that has nothing to do with cricket.
But remember that I used the words “some fans”. I know there are fans that criticise Bavuma’s performances and sometimes even his ability as a T20 international player but do so respectfully. Hats off to all of you.
I understand that stats have been presented, but I don’t think that circumstances and context have been taken into consideration.
Bavuma stepped up when no one else had the courage to accept the responsibility of being the leader, in what was one of the darkest times in Cricket South Africa’s history.
This group of cricketers needed someone to bring them together who has tactical prowess that matches the ability to bring a dressing room together.
Now, this is where things get muddled.
This is where our respectful fans are correct.
His stats do not match what we consider to be expected of a modern-day T20 international opener.
What this doesn’t show, however, is that Bavuma’s 121.75 SR is largely due to his performances on slower wickets, with his SR sitting at 108.57 (UAE), 108.57 (West Indies) and 113.15 (India).
In South Africa, he strikes at 142.97. He has yet to play in Australia in a T20I.
What these stats also don’t tell you is the following, as an opener:
Games – 16
Innings – 16
333 runs @ 22.2
SR – 128.57
50’s – 1
Best – 72
When you put Bavuma’s performances into perspective, there is some merit in seeing why Boucher wants him in his team.
Despite Bavuma’s stats as a T20I player being way better than our current coach’s T20I record, there is a theory I’ve seen around – they both play the format in a similar manner. But I take this train of thought with a pinch of salt because we live in an era where the game requires proactive or adaptable players. We live in the #StrikeRateEra.
Take a look at the scores on this list:
Considering that Bavuma has been playing this format since 2019, he only has 24 matches to his name. If we take a deeper dive, he has never had the chance to play in one position consistently, or build a partnership with anyone.
That doesn’t take away the cold hard facts. If Temba wants to open in this World Cup, he has to find a way to up his scoring rate in the power play.
When I look at Temba’s strengths as a cricketer, I feel that he can use them to his advantage in the power play – he must find ways to score boundaries and run between the wickets, in order to form the perfect partnership with De Kock. He can do so with good cricket shots, he doesn’t have to be inventive.
It’s not an anchor that we need him to be. We need him to be an accumulator – someone who keeps the runs ticking over while his partner takes the majority of the spotlight.
But there will be games when Quinton struggles too, then we will need Bavuma to ease the pressure by finding more regular boundary options, while still making sure that De Kock faces enough balls to get his eye in or stay in the game.
If he can bat smart-aggressive then this would be the ideal scenario for me.
But reality hit me again. No matter how much we complain, Mark Boucher has picked Temba as his captain, and I’ll be shocked if he changes this so close to the World Cup.
I want our players to be in the best frame of mind going into this World Cup, so I will like to have discussions about the players that have been selected. I don’t see the point of us speaking about players that have not been contacted by CSA, Victor Mpitsang and the coach.
As much as I like Rilee Rossouw, Faf du Plessis etc. How does that help anyone talking about them?
I want to talk about possible solutions for the issues that this current squad has, because beating India in their backyard, would have been impressive. Yes, they are resting players, but they picked their most in-form T20 players who are World Class too.
Back to what I aimed to do with this article. I came to admit that if Bavuma’s current form continues, then we will need to think hard about what we going to do because I don’t see the Proteas dominating games if we don’t start getting good starts in the power play.
Mind you, De Kock also needs to come to the party, his recent record in T20Is hasn’t been consistent enough either.
If we want to win a trophy, then both openers have to find a cohesion that improves their consistency as a proactive batting duo. If not, then we need to make a change quickly with the tournament kicking off in October.
Let’s hope they manage the former.
I explain my view a bit better in the video below:
