Bavuma: Plenty of room for improvement
PROTEAS Test captain Temba Bavuma was satisfied with his team’s 87-run victory over the West Indies in the first Test yesterday but knows there remains plenty of room for improvement.
In the first Test of a new era under Bavuma and coach Shukri Conrad’s leadership, the home team were again guilty of their, all too familiar, batting collapses, which were prevalent under the previous regimes.
The first innings saw the Proteas lose 9/121 before being skittled for just 116 second time around. Fortunately, Player of the Match Aiden Markram was in sublime form with knocks of 115 and 47 to give the impressive Proteas bowling unit enough runs to defend.
Anrich Nortje did the business in the first innings with his fourth career Test five-wicket haul before talisman Kagiso Rabada completed the rout with 6/50 in the Windies’ second innings.
Bavuma, who was dismissed for two ducks in his first Test as skipper, was confident that his bowlers would be able to defend the 246-run target, but does want more from the batting unit in the second Test at the Wanderers next week.
“Feels good, that’s what we came to do. Big positive for us,” Bavuma said of the win.
“But there was a crazy hour at the end. We threw away all the advantage and all the good work we did. We knew we had the opportunity today as we had runs on the board. The wicket did not get easier, there was variable bounce.
“We never really spoke about the score, a particular target we wanted. It was all about extending the partnerships. At the time Aiden was there, (Heinrich) Klaasen came in, for me 300 would have been very tough.
“I think at the end, 250 lead proved to be quite a lot. With our attack, we are used to defending that. The bowlers need to rest, it was a big effort from them. The batters need to get together and have that game plan. We need to do better next time.”
Bavuma’s counterpart Kraigg Brathwaite also lamented the under performance of his batters and stressed they certainly have to improve if they are to be competitive in the remainder of the series.
“As a batting unit, only batting 100 overs in both the innings, that was a big loss. We should have batted at least 90 overs in the first innings,” Brathwaite said.
“Some balls were keeping low, some balls were getting bounce. It (the pitch) had a lot for the bowlers. But we should have done better with the bat.
“Our bowlers did a good job. SA batted extremely well on day one, but the bowlers pulled things back in the last session,
“With the bat, we weren’t good enough. Today, the bowlers bowled SA out for under 120. As batters, we have to improve. We just have to come better in the next game. There is not much you can do, we can have nets.
“Mentally, when you get in, you have to be more clear, be more precise. We can’t go practising and change the technique. We got starts, but we did not get any hundreds, but we have to get starts and get some runs.”