Proteas interim coach Malibongwe Maketa has come out strongly in support of Temba Bavuma heading into the first Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday.
The right-hander has not played much red ball cricket in the past eight months.
Bavuma was ruled out of the tour of the UK after an elbow injury and returned to the national fold only when he led the side in their ill-fated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign in Australia.
He became the subject of vigorous debate after disappointing performances, with various aspects of his white ball game and leadership brought into question.
Bavuma took time off after returning to South Africa and did not feature in any of the opening three Cricket South Africa four-day franchise series games in November.
Bavuma did not bat in the first innings of the tour match against the Cricket Australia XI over an injury concern. He made 28 off 92 balls in the second innings of the drawn game.
Speaking about Bavuma’s state of mind, Maketa said the Lions player was in a good space and smiling again.
“I am very happy with how he has progressed with his batting since his return to the squad,” the coach said.
“It would have been nice for him to have two innings [against the CA XI], but he has batted a lot since we got here. So, in terms of that and the work he has done, I am very happy.
“Where he is mentally — smiling and confident again — bodes well for us, [him] being one of our best batsmen going into the series.”
Maketa said the Proteas have prepared well for the first instalment of the three-match series.
The four-day tour match had given his side a lot of confidence and valuable time in the middle.
“We have been lucky to come here and spend time in conditions similar to what we will face.
“The batters scored good runs in the warm-up game. Dean [Elgar] got 100, Kyle [Verreynne] and Theunis [de Bruin] both got 80s and Rassie [van der Dussen] got a 90, so we had an opportunity to spend time in the middle.
“Some of the guys got to face enough balls to feel comfortable while the bowlers have been hitting the lengths we have been challenging them to hit, so we are very happy with how things have gone.”
Asked how his batting line-up might look, Maketa said: “We have our ideas but we want to give the wicket another day or so.
“We were at the Gabba for the first time today [Wednesday] and speaking to the curator. He feels we are still a long way out for us to get an idea of how the wicket will look or play, so we will give ourselves a few more hours to make those decisions.”
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