SA vs Aus - South Africa underline world-beating credentials with comeback win

“In a cheeky way, we’ve answered certain critics saying that what we did at the WTC was a fluke.”

Temba Bavuma rarely follows the Shukri Conrad approach of showing off more, but allowed himself a little indulgence after doing what only Peter van der Merwe, Ali Bacher and Faf du Plessis have done before: beat Australia in a series at home.

Bavuma himself played an immense role, scoring a career-best 179 in the second Test at St George’s Park to bring South Africa back from the brink. They were 1-0 down, 40 for 4, and then 110 for 6 before Bavuma seized momentum with an innings that could prove career-defining. His high only lasted a few days before he was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the third Test at Newlands, and offered an incredulous shot against Nathan Lyon in the dying moments of the third day in the second.

Bavuma then had to watch as his domestic team-mates Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder put South Africa in a position of advantage, and then had to take the field to defend 288. As momentum swung one way and then the other, Bavuma had to stay centered – both as the team’s leader and their leading batter.

“It’s tough, to be honest,” he said. “You wake up every day asking yourself to be at your best. Physically, there’s times where you feel like you can’t go at 100%, but you need to dig deep, and if the opportunity’s there, make sure you’re in the best mental space to make the play for the team. Even if things don’t go well for you with the ball or the bat, you still need to be looking at ways as to how you can contribute within the team.”

Bavuma described the series as “15 days of just pressure”, which, after almost a year of not playing any Tests and 21 months of not playing a Test at home started with a “rude awakening” in Durban.

“Australia experienced a similar thing when they came up against Bangladesh at home,” Bavuma said, referring to the nine-wicket defeat in Darwin. “It was no different from us. Once we were in that situation, we had to dig deep. Guys had to find in them the ability to do something special within the team.”

The return of Kagiso Rabada after South Africa were forced to hold him back in Durban while he recovered from a hamstring injury made up some part of the difference, but the pace spearhead couldn’t do it on his own. Marco Jansen provided both runs and wickets in Gqeberha, while Rickelton and Mulder’s hundreds in Cape Town gave South Africa a score they could work with. For the latter pair to prove themselves was particularly important.

“As batters, we were tested from all angles every day. We were under pressure,” Bavuma said. “So to be able to put runs on the board, looking at the situation of the game, those two guys now have a confidence that they can really move around with. From a team perspective, I won’t say that it surprises me. I’ve seen those guys do that a lot at the Lions, but obviously, here is where it counts a lot more.”

Here is the national side, and South Africa are in the process of building their identity under Bavuma and head coach Conrad. For now, they define themselves as a team of “resilience” who are known for their ability to bounce back. “Resilience is a word that we speak about as a South African team. It is something that features massively within my own career as a cricketer,” Bavuma said.

“It will be important for us to acknowledge what we’ve achieved, celebrate whatever milestones, take whatever learnings that come with it, and really bask in what we’ve achieved. In the two-and-a-half years, if you look at the team, we’ve been able to squeeze out every inch of every individual.”
Temba Bavuma

The next step is to try and be a side that does not have to do that, but one that starts well. “I’d love for us to be a side that can play a lot more from the front,” Bavuma said. “But if playing from behind and us being resilient gets the best of us, then I guess we’ll keep riding that for as long as that bears us good fruits.”

For now, Bavuma will allow himself to reflect on what he called an “enthralling 15 days of cricket” that “will be remembered as one of the iconic Test series, at least in this century, I’d like to believe”. What they experienced was the hardest thing they had ever had to do.

“There were two quality sides who came up against each other, and really forced each other to play their best cricket,” Bavuma said. “It will be important for us to acknowledge what we’ve achieved, celebrate whatever milestones, take whatever learnings that come with it, and really bask in what we’ve achieved. In the two-and-a-half years, if you look at the team, we’ve been able to squeeze out every inch of every individual.”

Bavuma took over the captaincy three-and-a-half years ago, but South Africa’s climb only really began in mid-2024, about two-and-a-half years ago, when they went to the West Indies. Then, no one would have thought of them as world beaters. Now, that’s exactly what they are.

“In a weird way, but also a beautiful way, we are driven by this ambition to achieve,” Bavuma said. “You look at the narratives and the sentiments and the stories that are created around it all, but us as a team, we’ve surpassed a lot of the things we put to ourselves.”

They’ve done it on skill and strategy but also the old-fashioned art of confidence and unity – or as we wrote in the WTC final, the spirit of together-together.

“It’s just because of that belief and that oneness that we have as a team. As long as we keep that, we’ll keep achieving what we are achieving,” Bavuma said. “The guys have bought into the vision that’s been set within the team. We play for each other. And we play for the moments to do something special for the team. I think something special is really, really brewing there amongst that group.”

And he hopes something equally important is developing about what people think of them from the outside. “I do hope with the way that we’ve performed, not the result, but the way that we’ve performed, it’s given that belief. And I guess in a cheeky way, answer to certain critics saying that what we did at the WTC was a fluke. The sky’s the limit for the team.”

South Africa’s next assignment is a two-Test series against Bangladesh at home from November 15.

Firdose Moonda is Cricinfo’s senior correspondent for Africa and women’s cricket

Source: www.cricinfo.com