Bavuma debate Boucher defends his skipper

The coaches have discussed the Proteas captain’s situation and are giving him time to rectify it

● It’s difficult to fly under the radar if you are Temba Bavuma.

The Proteas limited-overs captain underwhelmed with the bat during the recent T20 series against India which ended 2-2 after the deciding match was rained out in Bengaluru.

Bavuma struggled to impose himself with only 61 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 103.38 as he struggled against the skill and pace of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The SA captain could score only 13 runs from the 25 deliveries by the Indian rightarm seamer who also got him out once during the series.

Bavuma has the fourth-worst strike rate (115.9) among openers from the top 10 T20 sides who have played at least 10 innings since 2021 — but coach Mark Boucher is not concerned with his captain’s form.

SA have five confirmed T20 matches against England and Ireland and five more yet to be confirmed leading up to the World Cup in Australia in four months’ time where Bavuma will be looking to improve his strike rate and find form.

“Temba struggled on the tour, there is no doubt, and as coaches we sit down and ask why he struggled,” said Boucher as he put up a ring of steel around his captain.

“First of all, he struggled against one bowler and that was Kumar, most of the guys struggled against him as well. Let’s give him (Kumar) credit where it’s due because he is a fantastic bowler, especially in those conditions.

“We look at the conditions that we played in and there were times when the ball was swinging a lot which makes him very dangerous. Also, the ball was up and down quite a bit, especially with the new ball.”

Boucher said his coaching team have spoken about Bavuma’s situation and they would give him time to rectify it. “So we have sort of looked at it as coaches and how do we give him more options. We have spoken about it and it’s quite difficult for him to change things during the series where you travel and play.

“He hasn’t played a lot of cricket as well, so to come to a T20 series and open the batting you have to get on with it from the get go. It was always going to be tough, especially against Kumar.

“Against other bowlers, his strike rate is fine and there is no major concern from our side. He’ll know that he’s got to score better.

“His stats outside the power-play are very good, he’s got his way of playing the game and he picks up boundaries in different ways to how, say, a Rassie van der Dussen or Aiden Markram would.

“It is just one period of play and against one particular bowler that we need to work on but we have a plan with regard to that. Temba likes to be challenged, we challenged him in the Test match arena and look how he has come through.

“He wants to work on his game, he wants to improve and I have no doubt that given a bit of time he can get into a bowling machine and work on a couple of things and he will come through,” said Boucher.

“He is a tough cricketer, a tough captain and definitely someone we need in our team. As coaches, we are going to be working very hard to get him right against that particular bowling style.”

Boucher also presented an update on the progress of the team.

“If we have a look at the makeup of our team, it will probably be a little bit different going into the World Cup, especially in completely different conditions from India.

“We tried out one or two things against India, we asked a few questions and we got a couple of answers about possibilities that we can have going forward. I guess once we start playing in conditions that look similar to Australia, then we can start to delve into the tactics and all that type of stuff.

“As coaches, we have certainly started thinking along those lines, but the players at the moment take it as it comes and we will make adjustments according to conditions that will suit the World Cup.

“The position we are in at the moment is a good one, we have a lot of depth to choose from,” Boucher said.