Bavuma on 10 years of trying to 'get something right': 'I had to embrace what I have'
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has traced the most prolific stretch of his Test career to a simple decision: stop trying to bat like somebody else.
After a career-best 179 against Australia — an innings that spanned more than nine hours — Bavuma was asked what had changed.
"I have been playing international cricket for 10 years. At some point I was going to get something right."
The roomful of reporters laughed. Bavuma kept going.
"It's also about accepting myself as a player; what it is that I can and can't do, what allows me to be successful."
It was no use, he said, "trying to find a secret formula or whatever that allows you to be successful", because "you look at guys like AB and Hash, they're totally different". The consequence of that comparison, he added, is that "you think you have to play like AB or Hash, and you forget to embrace what you have".
The output since he became South Africa's captain in February 2023 supports the theory. He has scored four of his five Test centuries in that period and averages 51.68. In his last 16 Test innings he has reached 50 eight times, converting three of those into hundreds.
Responsibility off the field, freedom on it
Bavuma pointed to a life that has grown fuller away from the game as one explanation for the clarity at the crease.
"My life has developed in a way where there's a lot more responsibility off the field. I guess that helps to offload any type of pressure. But also to have perspective about things. There's also more enjoyment in taking on challenges."
That steadiness has been evident in the biggest moments. His 66 in the second innings of South Africa's five-wicket win over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord's in June last year, played with an injured hamstring, was central to the trophy. His latest effort was similarly load-bearing: he arrived at 12/2, saw his side slide to 110/6, and was still there when they declared at 425/9, having been caught behind off Mitchell Starc. He shared stands of 52 with Ryan Rickelton, 132 with Marco Jansen and 183 with Simon Harmer.
The innings also carried historical weight beyond the scorebook. In the second Test against Sri Lanka at St George's Park in December 2024, Bavuma made 78 and 66 but watched the plaudits go to centurions Ryan Rickelton and Kyle Verreynne and to five-wicket-haul bowlers Dane Paterson and Keshav Maharaj. An earlier profile of Bavuma, published on 23 October 2026, noted that he brought up his hundred against Australia by swivel-pulling Pat Cummins through midwicket, "holding the shot" — the moment in which a batter feels what has happened a second before anyone else — and described him as a "tiny, super-smart" captain who grew up a township boy in Langa before being plucked out at 10 on a scholarship.
The adulation he can no longer dodge
What has followed is a level of recognition the intensely private Bavuma is still adjusting to. At Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha he could not walk through the departure lounge without being asked to pose for photographs, a contrast to the anonymity he enjoyed in the same terminal less than two years earlier.
Asked about the heightened attention, he was characteristically dry.
"People also think I work for [CSA's ticket service providers]. They keep asking me for tickets. That's how it goes, right? When you're doing well people are there. It can be overwhelming, so I try to hide myself. But, yeah, there has been a lot of … adulation."
Bavuma paused before landing on the word, taking his time in the same way he does at the crease. The sentiment, however, is not one he can bat away — with a series decider against Australia at Newlands now waiting on Tuesday.