To Temba or not to Temba ...
... that’s the million run question facing coach Boucher on his captain Bavuma ahead of the World Cup
Proteas coach Mark Boucher has less than three weeks to decide on whether to keep, reshuffle or drop top-order batter and captain Temba Bavuma from the batting line-up for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Bavuma has been in the headlines because of his lean spell after successive scores of 0, 0 and 3 during the 2-1 T20 series loss to India and 8 during the first of three ODIs against the same opponents last week.
There is another chance for him to overcome his batting struggles during the remaining two ODIs which continue this morning at Ranchi and conclude in Delhi on Tuesday.
His struggles in T20s, which is the format for the forthcoming World Cup, has split opinion with some arguing that he must be supported and others saying he must make way for Reeza Hendricks.
Some have suggested that he must be pushed down the order where he is unlikely to face the new ball and director of cricket at Cricket South Africa (CSA) Enoch Nkwe says the decision rests with coach Boucher.
“It is up to the coach, the captain himself and the selection panel will play a role in helping the coach to finalise the squad and the team,” said Nkwe.
Boucher must decide whether to lose a leader and a good fielder for possible toporder runs from Hendricks or push Bavuma down the batting order and drop Rilee Rossouw, who scored an unbeaten century in the 3rd T20.
“At the end of the day, the coach is employed to make those decisions to help the team or the captain to make the right calls on field but also to help the squad to be the best they can be.”
Before the team departed for India, Boucher unequivocally supported Bavuma as “our leader”, responding to an uproar that erupted after he was not sold during the SA20 auction.
Teammates have also rallied behind Bavuma but time is running out as SA have two ODIs against India and two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh before the World Cup starts.
“Whatever the coaches decide on, I have to respect them, but at the end of the day I need to hold them accountable,” said Nkwe.
“If they feel that tactically or in terms of the strategy it will work best for Temba to continue to open, we will have to wait and see what happens and whether he will be able to execute the plan and complement the team well. They are closer to him, they work with him on a daily basis.”
Nkwe added that the positive thing was that Quinton de Kock, Rossouw, David Miller and Aiden Markram were among the runmakers during the T20 series. “At the moment it does help when you have guys like Miller, Rossouw and Quinny (De Kock) holding the batting unit together.
“It is just a matter of time that Temba starts to fire and that will help him to find his feet or regain his form in ensuring that he plays his role on the batting side of things.”
Nkwe argued that you can’t just drop a captain after a few poor results. “At the end of the day, there are decisions that need to be made. Whether technically or they need to move Temba around or they believe is still the right person to open the batting is a decision they need to make.
“We have had a lot of captains in the past that struggled, not only in SA but other countries. If there are things that need to change a little bit or a decision has to be made, there must be a valid reason for it.
“You don’t just drop a captain because of four, five or six performances. He has shown (his value) in the past, especially at last year’s World Cup where he steadied the ship. His leadership qualities came to the fore at a high pressure tournament.
“We mustn’t forget about Temba’s character, he just has it in him when it comes to major events. We have had players, even though they were not captains, who had a poor run of form but eventually found the runs and we were all happy.”
Bavuma, who has been protected from dealing with the media, has an avarage of 23.54 in T20s and in four matches against India he scored 11 runs from 31 deliveries that he faced.