Making big scores more important for Bavuma than batting quickly
Temba Bavuma’s Proteas will continue to adopt an ‘old-fashioned’ Test batting strategy as they go in search of a first Test series victory in more than a year against the West Indies starting on Thursday.
Though the loss of seven sessions in the first Test was the primary reason for the drawn outcome in that encounter, there has been a feeling that had South Africa shown more aggression with the bat in the first innings, they could have created more time to push for victory.
The batters did show the necessary intent in the second innings, having assessed the conditions by that stage, but the slow-paced surface and the wet weather meant the pitch didn’t break up as it would have normally, leading to a draw.
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Bavuma on Wednesday described the outcome as “frustrating”, but explained that his team wouldn’t change its approach, especially if they batted first.
“Scoring quickly is tricky, especially in the first innings when you are trying to understand the conditions — it can be dangerous,” said the South African captain.
“We wouldn’t have predicted we would lose seven sessions and that was always going to put us under pressure. You can’t control the weather. You have it at the back of your mind, but as much as you can, you want to play what is in front of you. We will do that in this game as well.”
Rather than concern himself with the batters’ scoring rate, Bavuma felt the big lesson of the first Test was that those who got themselves starts needed to produce substantial numbers on the scoreboard.
“We want the batters to be a lot more ruthless. Guys who get the opportunity to get in have to go on and get a really big score and that obviously (creates) more time for the bowlers.”
Obvious comparisons will be drawn with England’s approach in the last few years, particularly how they played in similar conditions in Pakistan in 2022 and frequently scored at more than six runs an over while winning that series 3-0.
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However, South Africa, as Bavuma reminded, don’t play as much Test cricket as the English, and in the case of the current Proteas group, a number of players are still finding their feet in the format. Bavuma highlighted how Tony de Zorzi, who played in his first Test as an opener in Trinidad, and Tristan Stubbs, the new no. 3, would draw confidence from their performances last week.
“This is an inexperienced side and so the guys need to see themselves performing in certain parts of the game and then building from those performances.”
In doing so, they would naturally be more circumspect. “Test cricket is more attacking (these days), which is obvious because of T20 cricket, but in these conditions it can be tough to be overly attacking.
“The wickets are slow and the odd ball keeps low and so it really is a case of playing old-fashioned Test cricket. We will play what is in front of us and if the opportunity is there for us to take the game forward we will try to do so,” said Bavuma.
White-ball head coach Rob Walter has today named the 15-player squad for the upcoming three-match T20 International (T20I) series against the West Indies, which gets underway later this month in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Commenting on the squad, Walter said: “Several players were not… pic.twitter.com/hx8PJ4d6tX
Unlike last week when he named his starting team before the Test, Bavuma said he wasn’t in a position to do so on Wednesday because he and coach Shukri Conrad wanted to assess the surface at training.
Only two Tests have been played at the Providence Stadium, the last of those 13 years ago, but the expectation in the Proteas camp is that the surface will be similar to what they played on at the Queens Park Oval.
As such, Bavuma explained, off-spinner Dane Piedt would come into consideration for a start along with Nandre Burger, the left-arm seamer. The latter’s role would stretch further than just taking wickets, as he would also create rough on the pitch that Piedt could exploit.
The second Test starts at 4pm (SA time) on Thursday.