South Africa captain Temba Bavuma battles mental demons as he returns from lengthy injury layoff

“It’s definitely has played in my mind. When you’re injured and you start in a rehab process, it’s always tough,” he said in Pretoria, where South Africa are involved in a preparation camp ahead of their home Test summer. “It’s just [about] trying to get over all those mental demons and get yourself into a space where you accept what it is that is happening and you try to deal with it. It has been a tricky couple of weeks.”

“As much as the guys played as well as they did against Bangladesh, it was quite frustrating from my side not being able to take part in that,” he said. “But obviously, I had a lot of joy in how the guys performed.”

“I don’t know what the next couple of weeks or months look like. I’m just happy that I’m able to speak to you guys at this point in time,” he said. “I’ll try to prepare as much as I can from a physical and mental point of view. And hopefully the gods can smile on me a little bit longer.”

So far, Bavuma said his “elbow feels good”, the intensity of his training “has definitely ramped up” and he is mentally ready to go. “I feel quite fresh and excited as well to have the opportunity to be batting, to be putting on my pads, to be running on the field. From a skill point of view, it’s always just got to build it, just build that confidence – feel yourself hitting the ball out the middle and feel your movements are the way that you want them to be.”

“I feel quite fresh and excited as well to have the opportunity to be batting, to be putting on my pads, to be running on the field.”

Temba Bavuma

While Bavuma continues to regain his own sense of self-belief, South Africa’s is soaring, not only because they have not lost a Test series under Shukri Conrad but because their WTC fate is in their own hands. If they win all four of their remaining Tests (two each against Sri Lanka and Pakistan), they will be guaranteed a place in the final. Considering that South Africa have played fewer matches than anyone else and effectively forfeited a series in New Zealand, where they were without most of their first-choice players who were committed to the SA20, that they remain in contention itself is impressive, and they know it.

“There’s lots of excitement,” Bavuma said. “Obviously, as a group, starting the WTC cycle, that’s one of the things that we spoke about in terms of what we’d like to achieve. Things became a bit tricky for us after the New Zealand trip but there was always a goal at the back of our minds. We understand that the expectation and the pressure will probably ramp up.”

There is also renewed hope in South African cricket. After reaching three T20 World Cup finals in 18 months (twice by the women and once by the men) and the men’s ODI World Cup semi-final against expectations, there is a feeling something big (read: trophy) must be on the horizon. Whether that comes now or in the future, Bavuma can feel the positive shift and hopes his team will lean into it.

“From a belief point of view, that’s definitely grown within the team,” he said. “We’re playing at home during festive times and playing in front of our home fans. Hopefully the stadiums will have a little bit more people than we are accustomed to. We’ve been putting in some good performances so from a confidence, belief point of view, it’s been good to see. As a team, we’ll ride that for as long as it lives within us.”