Temba Bavuma’s elevation as the Proteas’ new T20 and ODI skipper for the next two years should be celebrated by all South Africans and not viewed as a political statement, writes Alasdair Fraser.
It has been wonderful to witness Bavuma being given the historic honour of becoming the Proteas’ first-ever black captain. It has been a long time coming for South African cricket and to mark 30 years since unification, this may be the catalyst for something special at a World Cup event.
Bavuma deserves to be the captain of the Proteas. He is definitely a senior member of the squad and the Lions have won a surfeit of silverware under his watch, with most recently the T20 Challenge in Durban.
The similarities between Siya Kolisi and Temba Bavuma being handed key leadership roles for South Africa in the international arena are uncanny.
Kolisi was one of Super Rugby’s form players in the lead-up to his first outing as Springbok captain, was an excellent captain at the Stormers, a fantastic player for the Springboks, and it was puzzling that Allister Coetzee didn’t have the vision to make that decision.
It is indicative of the current brains trust at Cricket South Africa that Bavuma deserves this honour and that there is a glimmer of hope that could become something more tangible in the not-too-distant future.
Dial it back to January 2020 and you may recall – to the indignation of the haters on their keyboards – that after scores of nine and 17 in his first two innings for the Lions, after being omitted from the Proteas squad during England’s Test in 2019/20, Bavuma came close to saving his team from defeat after batting for more than seven hours, facing 282 balls, scoring 180 and was the last man out in a total of 299.
Social media was awash with praise and it justified Bavuma’s fighting spirit, which he keeps bottled up in his diminutive frame. We saw that fighting spirit being released at Newlands when he scored that maiden Test ton against England four years earlier. There is no doubt more is to come and that his teammates will back him all the way.
The best part of all of this is what it will do for the young cubs out there who will know that if you work hard at your game and truly believe in yourself, anything is possible – even with the many obstacles that the majority of South Africans face every day in their lives and with the limited opportunities faced in often dire circumstances.
Temba Bavuma may go down as one of the finest captains in our long and chequered cricketing past. He might just be that man standing aloft holding the Cricket World Cup trophy and ending years of heartbreak. But even if he doesn’t, he would have brought hope to a sport-loving nation, which in 20 years’ time won’t be squabbling about quota selections.
Remember why you started and keep going, Temba. Keep going.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
