Daunting task awaits Temba

Temba Bavuma (above) can complain with righteous indignation over the misfortune that saw him miss the entire Test series against the West Indies, but he can have no complaints over the quality of preparation his T20 side will be getting against a home team packed with giants of the shortened version of the game.

The five-match T20 series starts at St George’s in Grenada later today and the West Indies have T20 legends Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo in their squad.

It will be a daunting challenge for Bavuma, who will actually lead his team out on to the field for the first time in a T20, having missed the series against Pakistan due to injury.

That bad luck with injuries followed him to the Caribbean, where he was on the sidelines of the memorable Test triumph due to first a hip problem, and then a dislocated finger while training for the second Test, so he will certainly be eager for the contest.

“As a team we’ve had various discussions on the type of cricket we want to play and now we have a chance to test that against a very strong outfit, the West Indies obviously being one of the favourites for the T20 World Cup later this year. We get the chance to test our skills against theirs and that should give us a clearer picture of what needs to be done,” Bavuma said yesterday.

Half-a-dozen of the players who no doubt quaffed some celebratory drinks following their leading roles in the Test series triumph are likely to play in the first T20, while Bavuma and spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde were also part of the Test squad. So there is plenty of feel-good continuity in the Proteas camp.

“The Tests went exceptionally well and although this is a different format, the outcome of that was still momentum and confidence.”