Africa-Press – South-Africa. Proteas interim coach Malibongwe Maketa is pleased with batter Temba Bavuma’s form ahead of their Test series against Australia.
The Proteas take on the World Test Championship leaders for three-Test series, with the first Test set to start on Saturday at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Bavuma has been under-fire since taking over the reins as South Africa’s T20 captain, which was heightened by his inconsistent form at the T20 World Cup.
Bavuma only managed 70 runs at an average of 17.50 in South Africa’s five T20 World Cup matches and did not feature for the Lions in the CSA 4-Day Franchise Series.
In South Africa’s drawn four-day warm-up against Cricket Australia XI, Bavuma only batted in one innings and scored 28 off 92 balls.
Maketa insists that he is happy with Bavuma’s progress ahead of Saturday’s opening Test in Brisbane when asked over his current form.
“It would have been nice for him to have two innings, but he’s battered a lot of volume since we’ve gotten here. So from that point of view in terms of volume, in terms of the work, I’m very happy with his progress,” Maketa told reporters on Wednesday.
“Yes, he spent a lot of time in the middle and hit the ball quite nicely. Even today, in our first practice at the Gabba, he was one of the best batters on show there.
“So from that point of view, I’m very happy and where he is mentally, he is smiling and is confident again, and that bodes very well for us in terms of being one of our best batters going into this series.”
Several SA batters got some much-needed time in the middle as the Proteas scored 347 and then declared for 304/8.
Dean Elgar (109, 26), Kyle Verreynne (80, 3*), Rassie van der Dussen (27, 95) and Theunis de Bruyn (13, 88) were some of the standout performers with the bat against Cricket Australia XI last week.
Maketa was delighted and confident in the Proteas batting line-up as they go into the Test series as underdogs against a formidable Australian team.
“We have been lucky to be able to come here and spend time in the conditions or similar to the conditions we’re going to play at the Gabba,” said Maketa.
“It has given us a lot of confidence in the sense that batters did get some runs in the warm-up game, like Dean got a good hundred. Kyle and Theunis got nice eighties. Rassie got a 90 so everybody got in.
“So in that sense, we got our opportunity to spend time in the middle and some of the guys got to face enough balls to really feel comfortable and the bowlers have been hitting the lengths that we’ve been challenging them to hit. So from that point of view, I’m very confident and happy.”
Play on Saturday starts at 02:20 SA time.
Proteas Test squad:
Dean Elgar (captain, Titans), Temba Bavuma (Lions), Gerald Coetzee (Knights), Theunis de Bruyn (Titans), Sarel Erwee (Dolphins), Simon Harmer (Titans), Marco Jansen (Warriors), Heinrich Klaasen (Titans), Keshav Maharaj (Dolphins), Lungi Ngidi (Titans), Anrich Nortje (Warriors), Kagiso Rabada (Lions), Glenton Stuurman (Warriors), Rassie van der Dussen (Lions), Kyle Verreynne (wicketkeeper, Western Province), Khaya Zondo (Dolphins)
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