Proteas vice-captain, Temba Bavuma, told the media on Tuesday that the team has the characters needed to be able to turn things around in New Zealand.

He emphasised that the recent series win over India has given them the belief that they can also bounce back against the Kiwis at the Hagley Oval this week.

The Proteas’ loss in the first Test match was one that revealed the cracks in the team after a solid performance in the India series. In a team with so many inexperienced players, the senior players have an even bigger role to play in terms of guiding everyone through a heavy defeat.

Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, in particular, have a huge role to play in a batting unit with three very inexperienced batters (four if you include Rickelton). The role is to lead from the front and help guys navigate their way out of the disappointment and get them mentally ready for the second Test.

Unfortunately, the Proteas don’t have a psychologist on tour, so the responsibility falls onto the seniors to offer some form of support and motivation. Yes, these guys are professionals as well, but Test cricket is a different ball game. It cannot be compared to domestic cricket at all.

“It starts with those conversations. It starts with us being honest and understanding that the performances we put out there were simply not good enough,” Bavuma explained how seniors are going about this role.

“At the same time, it’s also about reminding the guys that over the last couple of months as a team we’ve overcome a lot. The situation that we’re in is not foreign to us. We know how it is to come back from behind. We have that feeling. We have that confidence in each other in the team that we do have what it takes from a character point of view to do what we need to do.”

To be fair, the Proteas have started slowly in the recent past and have been able to bounce back and win matches. But this time around, it’s a two-match Test series and there’s very little time to bounce back.

“That’s where our confidence comes from – in knowing how we’ve performed in the last while, not just in Test cricket. There are a lot of positives that we can take from as a team. It’s important how we come back.”

The Test team has had some time off right after the two-and-a-half-day Test. Bavuma insists that the time was spent reflecting on how they performed in the first Test and most importantly it was spent finding solutions to their shortcomings of the first Test.

“I think that time was for the guys to individually reflect on their own performances, have a deep look at themselves and see how they can be better coming into the next game. We had that conversation as a team.

“I think it was an all-round honesty. Honesty regarding our performances. The fact that what we produced out there – in that two-day Test wasn’t good enough. We must improve. The main thing was to ensure that we’re in a better mental state, a better physical state to go and compete out there.”