Young partners in crime for the Proteas
TO HAVE a shot at being a worldclass team, a test side has to have depth in batting, which means up to positions six and seven.
In the absence of a blockbusting allrounder, South Africa have to make do with the old formula of a specialist batsman and the rumbustious wicketkeeper batsman.
No one expected Temba Bavuma, 26, and Quinton de Kock, 23, to play that fruitful role in the series win against Australia.
However, without their mature sixth-wicket contributions, South Africa would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Highveld Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana knows it’s still early days in their test careers but he believes that their response to pressure could mark them out for greatness.
Having worked with the duo in their formative franchise years, he knows what makes both of them tick.
In the first test in Perth, the sixth-wicket Bavuma-De Kock partnership extricated South Africa from a perilous 81/5 to what became a match-winning score of 242.
Their rescue job in the Hobart hammering pulled the team from 132/5 to the 326 that won the match with none of the Australian partnerships remotely close to their 144-run stand.
“The key to those salvage jobs is the part where they understand each other as batsmen and individuals.
“They understand each other’s game and they know how to adapt to the various situations to play their game.
“What they’ve done in Perth and Hobart is not a surprise to me because both players have an excellent work ethic and they constantly work at their game.
“What’s so important about what they did was their age, because they’re still young.
“That tells you we’re covered, but the most important thing is that they’ve been given the opportunity while they’re young,” Toyana said.
“The work Temba puts in when he’s not on international duty is unbelievable and it’s at times like the ones we saw in the test matches where it pays off.
“Number six is an incredibly difficult position to bat in but how the candidate performs in pressure situations marks them out for the future.
“De Kock’s natural aggression makes him a perfect foil to Temba’s meticulous nature. There may be calls for De Kock to open but he’s an asset at seven and must be used there.”
The six/seven axis has been used differently by teams over the years.
The two dominant teams of the past 35 years used the simple formula of the experienced old hand or the up-and-coming batsman with the dependable or explosive wicketkeeper batsman.
The West Indies had Clive Lloyd/Gus Logie/Carl Hooper holding the fort alongside Jeff Dujon while Australia had Damien Martyn/Michael Clarke batting with the incomparable Adam Gilchrist in their prime years.
The strength of the respective sides did not always allow them to indulge in salvage missions but their wickets were prized.
When they were called upon in the event of a rare top-order malfunction, they delivered more often than not.
A functional top order is not something the Proteas have had, especially in the first innings. Hashim Amla’s 47 is the highest by a top-five batsman in the first innings in the first two tests, magnifying the importance of the Bavuma-De Kock contributions.
While South Africa has always been blessed with nuggety allrounders and doughty tailenders who preferred to die with their boots on, they were hardly wet behind the ears.
This makes Toyana believe the Proteas can do without a proven allrounder and trust their batting resources.
“Quinton is an allrounder but them performing under pressure gives the team balance from where they can relax a bit in terms of the all-rounder search.
“The fact they’ve done this in Australia further enhances their reputations because they look like seasoned professionals,” Toyana said.
De Kock’s natural aggression makes him a perfect foil to Temba’s meticulous nature