Temba Bavuma urges ICC to end 'disparity' among teams: 'England played 22 Tests last year, South Africa just 12'

When South Africa lost 0-2 against New Zealand in February 2024, no one gave the Proteas a chance of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. An inexperienced South Africa line-up failed to rise to the challenge against the Kiwis in New Zealand, after which several brickbats were thrown towards Cricket South Africa (CSA) for sending a second-string squad and keeping all the main players back home because of SA20.

However, almost one year later, the story is completely different, with South African cricket nearing the top. Temba Bavuma and his men have done the unthinkable by progressing to the WTC final, as only one step awaits South Africa from achieving the ultimate glory. A mouth-watering clash against Australia at the Lord's Cricket Ground beckons for South Africa and, hopefully, a maiden ICC crown in almost three decades.

Bavuma has been right at the centre of South Africa's resurgence. The Proteas have won 7 Tests in a row to seal their place in the final, and Bavuma, 34, has been in remarkable form, scoring more than 500 runs in his last four Tests.

Hindustan Times caught up with Bavuma. In a free-wheeling chat, the Proteas Test and ODI captain spoke about how he sees going into the WTC final and the upcoming contest against Australia, set to be played from June 11 at Lord's.

Excerpts:

How pleased are you with your own form? Scoring 500 runs in the last four Tests is a commendable feat. Are you seeing the ball really well? Is this the most confidence you have felt in your abilities?

I'm very happy with where my form is at. Obviously, scoring runs is what we want to do as batters and my contribution to the team. Obviously, I've been seeing the ball well. My feet have been moving nicely. And I'm hitting the ball out of the middle more often of late. So yeah, I'm very happy that I'm in the form that I am and that I'm able to contribute and make match-winning performances for the team.

How has leading South Africa been for you? What have been your biggest learnings? Is there any former Proteas captain you admired and tried to inculcate his leadership style into yours?

Leading the South African team is a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure. Our fans always expect the best, so you've got to make sure that you uphold those expectations. So yeah, a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility, a lot of satisfaction as well. Being able to put smiles on the fans' faces and really get the people together and celebrate the moments that we give them. I've never really looked up to anyone from a captaincy point of view. Captaincy was never really a dream of mine. So, I've never really looked up to anyone from that perspective.

What does making the WTC final mean to you and South African cricket in general? We saw the outpouring of emotions when Rabada and Marco Jansen won you guys the Test in Centurion against Pakistan to the WTC final spot.

Yeah, it's massive, man. I think just for Test cricket in itself, here in the South African context, a lot of hype, a lot of coverage and attractiveness is shown towards T20 cricket. So, for us to go and achieve the feat that we did with the team that we have, we hope that it can make people a lot more attracted towards Test cricket.

Obviously, from a world perspective, South Africa is not exactly considered one of the powerhouses. There's still a lot of skill and talent here in South Africa, and we want to be considered among the best when we're speaking about the best teams in the world.

There has been criticism of how SA entered the final. Would you like to respond to the naysayers?

No, I wouldn't like to respond to it. We are in the final, that's the only response that I have.

What do you think of the World Test Championship format? Would you like to see all teams play a three-match series at the bare minimum?

Yes, please. We'd love to play more in South Africa. We'd love to be able to test our skills a lot more. We'd also like to be able to test our mettle a lot more. I think of the India series we played here at home, which ended 1-1. It was only a two-match series, and I think the end of that series was a bit of an anticlimax. You know, you always play to know who's the best. And there, you kind of didn't know who that was or who the best was. So yeah, maybe they can institute those minimum amount of Tests.

I think England played about 22 Tests last year. We played 12, that's almost 50 percent. So, you know, hopefully, you don't really get those types of disparities.

How do you see the contest against Australia? Do you see it as a contest between the two great bowling line-ups in the world? Or will the match at Lord's boil down to who bats better?

I think it will be a tough encounter first. Playing against Australia is always tough as well as exciting. And you know, it forces you to play at your best. So it will be tough and exciting. And look, you've got number one and number two coming up together so just on that statistically, you can't say it's the two best teams that are coming up against each other. Australia obviously have a strong bowling line-up, an experienced bowling lineup, and they've got some experience that is on their side, too. So I'm sure they'll be leading on that.

I think with us, it's relatively inexperienced compared to that. But within our team, we've got a lot of match-winners, guys who can do it for the team on the day. Our bowling line-up has changed quite a lot, but we trust that whoever is in that lineup can help the team. I think there will also be some interesting contests between certain players. Think of a guy like Rabada. You think of a Steve Smith on their side. You think of Pat Cummins, you think of Aiden Markram. So I think there will be some nice contests happening.

Recently, we spoke to AB de Villiers, Shaun Pollock and JP Duminy. All three believe SA head into the contest as underdogs. Do you agree with this assessment?

I guess they have their reasons for seeing us as underdogs. I think many people would have written us off in terms of getting to this point, looking at how our campaign started, our Test Championship started and look to go and win seven Test matches in a row. That's something that's not really normal and doesn't happen everyday. Whereas, you think of a powerhouse like Australia who, I mean, they're defending the Test Championship trophy. So you can understand why they see themselves as favourites.

Kwena Maphaka has really captured the imagination of cricket fans worldwide. How impressed have you been with him? What happens to Kwena once the injured pace trio of Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, and Anrich Nortje are back?

Kwena is a superb talent. We saw him at the U-19 World Cup. From that, he got into the IPL. From the IPL, he's also made his debut for South Africa, where he showed what he's about. So he's definitely a superb talent, and I think the world is his oyster. If he does the right things, we will try to support him as much as possible. As a captain and senior player amongst the team, I'll try to support him.

In terms of the World Test Championship, we're still quite far. You want to be in a situation where you can select from everyone. But there's still a lot of time till then. Other guys go to IPL, and other guys go to play county. So we don't know what could happen at that time. So, hopefully, everyone is fit and available. And look, whatever happens, we will select the best available team. But yeah, I think it's good headache for the coach and I to have in terms of selecting the team.

Do you think South Africa are well reserved when it comes to pace battery stocks? Do you think you guys have the best bench strength among pacers?

Definitely. I mean, that's our strength as South African cricket. That's one of the things we wanted to bring back, starting within the Test side. We want to bring back our fast bowlers because that's what we're known for. That is our strength. I mean, the fast bowlers are there, right? It's just a case of nurturing those guys. Fortunately, a lot of them have gone down because of injury. So, I guess monitoring them a lot better will be super key. But yeah, pace in our bowling attack, that's what we're about.

A word on Keshav Maharaj as well. I personally see him as the most underrated bowler around. Do you agree with this?

I would say he's probably the best spinner that we've produced here in South Africa. He's a monster. He's a monster with the ball. And he's a match-winner for us as a team. He has the numbers to show for the performances. And now and now again, he shows why he should be rated among the top spinners in the world. You know, he bowls in not-so-spinner-friendly conditions here in South Africa. And he's super effective. So yeah, I mean, Kesh, I agree with you. He's one of those underrated bowlers from the world context. But yeah, he's a big player for us.