“That’s something that the team needs – two guys to go out there and score big hundreds, and really give the bowlers something to rally behind.”
“If I look at my dismissal today [caught while slog sweeping], it was probably a brain fart,” Bavuma said. “If I was batting with a batter, I probably wouldn’t play the shot to be honest with you, with all due respect to KG [Kagiso Rabada] and the guys who came after them. I guess that’s that. That’s probably my biggest challenge: just to keep batting and see how long I can go out there.”
Bavuma also accepted responsibility for his role in the run-outs of Zondo and Keshav Maharaj, who he called through for risky runs, and saw those dismissals as a metaphor for South Africa’s overall batting issues.
“I was involved in both of them, so I guess I’m the common denominator there,” he said. “It probably just shows a lack of clarity and a bit of indecision between the guys batting out there. I’ll put it to that indecision, lack of clarity and cohesion between the guys batting.”
“The team that wins is the team that adapts better in those [bowler-friendly] conditions. And we simply haven’t done that.”
Bavuma on South Africa’s batting failure
“I’ve heard those arguments of people looking at our domestic system back home and asking if it really is equipping guys for this level,” he said. “I’m sure the guys in the room – the inexperienced guys – will understand that it’s a big jump. There’s a big difference between franchise cricket and international cricket.
“I can’t really sit here and have a go at our system. I’m part of that system as well, so that’s not something I am going to give a brutal answer towards. But the inexperience within the group, that’s really showing up.”
He also did not lay the blame for South Africa’s batting failures on bowler-friendly conditions, as has been the case among others in the set-up who have been asked about their string of low scores. South Africa have played in New Zealand, England and Australia this year, and have strung together seven successive innings under 200, which Bavuma said is simply sub-standard.
“The talk around the conditions is a matter of stating the obvious,” he said. “The team that wins is the team that adapts better in those conditions. And we simply haven’t done that. It’s a matter of us just not simply adapting. We need to be brutally honest as a batting group – we just haven’t been good enough.”