Temba Bavuma of Sunrisers Eastern Cape plays a shot during an SA20 game Temba Bavuma of Sunrisers Eastern Cape plays a shot during an SA20 game. Photo: Gianluigi Guercia
Ongama Gcwabe, in Gqeberha — Faf du Plessis knows a thing or two about “cashing in” with the Joburg Super Super Kings skipper currently among the top run-scorers in the Betway SA20.
The former Proteas captain therefore had a few sage words of advice for the current national white-ball captain Temba Bavuma.
“The hardest format to deal with regarding form is T20 cricket,” said Du Plessis. “That is why when you are scoring you need to cash in.
“Temba is in a bit of form now, so it’s important to score runs. Earlier, when there was a bit of pressure, it was hard for him to find form.
“The thing is at that time you think the game is moving quicker than it is. But you don’t have time to get in, and with every dot ball you feel more under pressure.
“But it’s good to see how he has come back. He played well in the recent ODI series, and what was impressive is the way he scored, he was more aggressive … something you can see he worked on.
“He batted beautifully, and that’s the way Temba needs to play for him to be at his best.”
Bavuma has been in a rich vein of form recently – bar his first-ball duck on his SA20 debut – having carried his run-scoring spree from the England ODI series through to his second game of the tournament against the Joburg Super Kings.
He struck 50 off just 33 balls and showed his class and adaptability to a slowish Wanderers surface which also showed signs of invariable bounce.
“In my first game I only managed one ball so it was nice to stay out there for more than one ball. I was just trying to carry on the form and the belief that I had from the England ODI series. The conditions were different. It definitely wasn’t Bloemfontein where the ball was coming on and you could hit through the line ,” said Bavuma after the loss to the Joburg Super Kings.
“I did nothing different from what I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks. I just try to keep trusting myself and keep backing whatever options that I have.
“I felt that you had to manoeuvre and manufacture options. It was a big factor of conditions and I’m sure if we come into these conditions again, we’ll have better plans and as batters we’ll be better suited to what was happening out there.”
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings have both qualified for the semi-finals and await their opponents after the last round of fixtures are completed this week.
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