South Africa’s vice-captain, Temba Bavuma, wasn’t kidding himself or anybody else about the level of disappointment and the nature of the defeats in the opening two test matches of the series against Australia.
The Proteas went down by six-wickets inside two days at the Gabba in Brisbane before being crushed by an innings and 182 runs shortly before tea on the fourth day of the Boxing Day test at the MCG in Melbourne.
“It’s obviously not what we prepared for and it doesn’t do justice to the amount of work we put in,” Bavuma told journalists before the third and final test starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 4.
“We have to be brutally honest as a batting group – we haven’t been good enough and we were shown up, and it was the same in England. In my experience England, Australia and India are the hardest places to tour, there have been a lot of questions in England and Australia and we simply haven’t been good enough,” Bavuma said.
His own record was once again under scrutiny having posted his 20th half century (65) in his 53rd test in Melbourne to go with a single century and an average of 34.2. He is the first to acknowledge larger scores are required.
“That’s what I need and the team needs. The 60s and 70s are good for that moment but in the greater scheme of things they don’t change the outcome of the game. I’ve obviously been guilty of that in my career and it’s something I would really, really like to change, not only for myself but for the team. That’s what the team needs, guys to go out there and score hundreds,” Bavuma said.
He also admitted that being dismissed top-edging a slog-sweep against offspinner Nathan Lyon wasn’t a ‘good look’ with the tourists battling to salvage pride if not the test match itself.
“It was a brainfart, if I can say that. If I was with a batter at that stage, with respect to KG, I probably wouldn’t have played that shot. My challenge was just to keep batting and try to build partnerships.”
Having struggled with just five specialist batters in the first two tests Bavuma admitted that another batter was considered before both matches and might be again before the third test although the practicalities of changing the balance of the team was not straightforward.
“It would be nice to have another batter, that’s obvious, but with the make-up of the team how do you put that together with the guys you have on tour here in Australia at the moment?
“It’s definitely something we can consider. It would have been tough on the Melbourne wicket going in with just three seamers and a spinner. When I was first picked by the Proteas they generally went with three seamers, a spinner, and someone else who could maybe bowl ten overs in a day. We don’t have that option at the moment,” Bavuma said.
Captain Dean Elgar said after the first test that the Gabba pitch had “…not been a good advertisement for test cricket” but Bavuma preferred to focus on himself and his teammates (‘controllables’) rather than the playing surface (uncontrollables’).
“For me it’s a matter of stating the obvious – the team that adapts better to the conditions is the team that wins. We simply haven’t done that, from my side it’s not a matter of blaming conditions. It’s a matter of us simply not adapting. It’s disappointing the way that we’ve played but there’s still a lot for us to play for in Sydney,” Bavuma said.