Bavuma concedes South Africa 'not the way you want to start any kind of series' after 214-run Kingsmead loss to Australia
Bavuma accepts first Test loss as captain and points to mental lapses
Temba Bavuma needed a moment after South Africa’s 214-run defeat to Australia at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The handshakes were done and the hurt hung in the haze of a hot Durban day when the captain exited stage left and sat in the dugout for seven minutes in splendid isolation.
Bavuma was reflecting on losing a Test as captain for the first time in his 13 matches in charge, and on the fifth South Africa Test in 38 at home over the past 10 years to go to a fifth day.
"Yeah, it has been. It’s not the way you want to start any kind of series, let alone against a top outfit like Australia. The emotions are still high. You want that to settle before you get into the conversations and really understand [what happened]. But there are obvious things that we could improve on, whether it’s from a batting or a bowling point of view. No-one is happy in that changeroom," Bavuma said.
From 124/6 to Renshaw domination
South Africa had reduced Australia to 124/6 on the first day. Matt Renshaw’s career-best 190 then took Australia to 390.
"Yeah, that’s part of the disappointment, right. You’ve got to praise the Australians for the way they hung in when we had them at 120 [124] for six. As an attack you’re backing yourself to restrict them to less than 250. For them to go and get the score they got took it out of us mentally. The conditions were good for batting and we weren’t able to make the most of it," Bavuma added.
Collapse seals defeat
The match was effectively decided on the third day when South Africa, batting on a perfect pitch, shambled to 99/4 in 30.1 overs. The home side replied with 284 to avoid the follow-on, but Australia took the lead to 420 with Renshaw adding 82 before declaring at Tea on Monday.
South Africa were 102 for four at stumps before Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder stood firm for almost two hours on Tuesday morning. The pair then lost 6/51 to crash to defeat an hour after lunch. Markram was ninth out for a flinty 75 and Josh Hazlewood took a career-best 6/49.
No excuses over Test lay-off
The match was South Africa’s first Test in almost 11 months. Australia played six Tests in the same period.
"I can never sit here and use that as an excuse. We knew that was going to be in front of us. We had the opportunity to prepare as much as we could. Yes, you can never really prepare for Test cricket without playing Test cricket. But a lot of the mistakes we made were mental. That’s where we really let ourselves down, you know. Whatever cobwebs were there will have been dusted out hopefully," Bavuma said.
On the poor shot selection in the first innings, he added: "It’s about assessing the conditions. If the pitch says play a certain way we try and play a certain way. That’s been the plan we’ve followed that has brought us success. The conversations leading up to this game haven’t been any different.
"There were soft dismissals. We could throw me into that category. When you're playing against a top outfit those things get weeded out. Our guys definitely weren’t throwing caution to the wind and playing recklessly. But there was a level of pressure that some of the guys weren’t accustomed to."
South Africa now have four days before the St George’s Park Test starts on Sunday.