Gqeberha — Temba Bavuma, successor to Dean Elgar as Test captain, believes nothing will change their relationship and that Elgar remains his senior in the team despite being relieved of the captaincy duties post the horrific tours to England and Australia earlier in the summer.
It has been a week to cherish for Temba Bavuma after he was announced as new Test captain. Bavuma and his family will forever remember this week as a highlight in their lives as Temba Bavuma continues to be a glass ceiling breaker.
Firstly, he became the first black African batter to play Test cricket for South Africa and then went on to score the first century by a black African batter. Now Bavuma is the first ever black African to captain South Africa in Test cricket ,134 years after South Africa played its first Test in March 1889.
As proud a moment as it has been for Bavuma, it could’ve been a tough one to accept for Elgar who has been let go as Test captain.
Bavuma reassured everyone that all is good between himself and Elgar.
“There’s nothing wrong with my relationship with Dean,” Bavuma told members of the media on Friday.
“Dean and I have always been good teammates. I’ve always looked up to Dean as a senior player. He helped me settle in within the team. I don’t see how things can change with the changes that have been made from the leadership point of view. There’s nothing there between me and Dean that anybody has to be worried or concerned about.
Having stepped down as T20I captain after an unsuccessful run as skipper in two consecutive World Cups, Bavuma acknowledged that it was probably his inexperience as a T20 player that lead to his poor returns as T20I captain.
Having learnt from that tough experience he is keen to get started as Test captain.
“I came at a time where I didn’t have a lot of experience in white ball cricket. I think I had not even played five games in T20Is and One Day cricket coming into South Africa.
“Now things are different because I’m quite experienced in the red ball game. I know my game and know what I need to do.
Test captaincy is a different ball game compared to captaining the white ball teams. It comes with a lot of pressure because South Africa as a cricketing nation is passionate and also holds Test cricket close to hurt.
“I don’t know what type of pressure the Test captaincy will bring. But I know I’ve been in international cricket for a number of years so all I know is pressure. If the pressure with the Test captaincy is different, I guess that is something that I will have to experience.
“It will be a big challenge to be honest with you. The white ball team is a lot more experienced. Guys have a lot of opportunities to play all around the world. Whereas in Test cricket it is quite limited. I mean this year we have the two red ball games against the West Indies and one at the end of the year so only three in a year. It’s quite hard to build something of substance when you’re playing three Test matches in a year.
It is particularly more difficult for Bavuma coming in to lead at a time where the Test team is in trouble having not produced anything of substance with the bat in a long time. The Proteas Test team’s batting problems have been well documented after tours to England and Australia were a disaster for the batting group.
But despite the difficulties that await ahead, the new Test captain takes a lot of strength and confidence in that Shukri Conrad believes in him to be the right man to captain South Africa in Test cricket going forward.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on the batting department. I’m not coming in and saying that I’m going to be the one to change or sort things out there because I was also involved.
“Shukri believes I’m the right man for the job because I am one of the most consistent players over the last couple of years. He believes I have what it takes to turn his vision into a reality.” He concluded.
The Test team assembled at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday and trained for the first time together ahead of the first Test match that will get underway next Tuesday.
IOL Sport