“What’s that?” someone cheekily inquired of Temba Bavuma as he placed the ICC Test mace in front of him.
“I found it out there on the field,” smiled the South African captain.
To know real joy was to see Bavuma at Lord’s yesterday. “Oohhh Temba Bavuma, Ooh Temba Bavuma,” might shoot up the music charts in South Africa in the next 48 hours.
Bavuma was being celebrated even more than when he made that memorable century at Newlands in January 2016. That innings remains enormously symbolic, but yesterday at Lord’s, as he led his team around this storied venue — with the bejewelled Test mace in one hand and his son Lihle in the other, Bavuma scripted a chapter that will surely define him as a player.
Bavuma, arguably more than anyone else in South African cricket, deserved this celebration. The lifting of the trophy, the chanting of his name, the love from the fans. “It hasn’t been easy. It’s not easy being captain of South Africa,” he said.
For him, it’s been even harder than most. Too small, too injury-prone and too soft-spoken, Bavuma was often judged on what he wasn’t. There can also be no getting away from the fact that because he’s black, large sections of South Africa, just by virtue of his skin colour, undermined him.
“I guess all the sacrifices, all the disappointment at that moment, it really feels worth it. When you’re going through it all, you know, giving up is always an option. It’s always there at the back of your mind, but something kind of holds you on,” he said.
Here was a lot of adrenaline but he showed a lot of leadership and character. And again, those may not be big numbers but they are ones that really make a difference, and that was Temba in this game for us.
— Aiden Markram, Proteas batter
“And I think, for me, it was that moment there, to be recognised as more than just a black African cricketer, but to be seen as someone who’s done something that the country has always wanted.”
Lord’s, he explained, was a fantasy for a kid who grew up pretending sections of the streets of Langa were the MCG, Newlands and this very place, where he’d just played a part in producing South African cricket’s greatest achievement.
This was no guiding hand from the back of the change-room performance either. Bavuma defined major moments in this Test; he helped change the momentum and his team’s mindset with his first innings of 36. He tore apart his body to score 66 and share the partnership with Aiden Markram, worth 147 runs, that won this thing.
“There was a lot of adrenaline but he showed a lot of leadership and character,” said Markram, who produced his own career-defining performance by scoring 136 in the second innings.
“And again, those may not be big numbers but they are ones that really make a difference and that was Temba in this game for us.”
His runs in the last few series of the Test cycle have been essential to South Africa reaching this final. There was a match-turning hundred in Durban, followed by crucial knocks of 78 and 66 in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Gqeberha.
Another hundred against Pakistan in Cape Town was less pressured but no less important, as he sought to underline his status as one of the team’s best players. “It’s not all been smooth sailing, being in my shoes. It can be burdensome but it’s still somewhat of a privilege to carry those types of expectations as well as the pressure.”
What Lord’s proved is that this team is Bavuma’s. He’s not the talkative, demonstrative type. “He’s a quiet leader, he leads from the back, but certainly from the front with the bat,” said head coach Shukri Conrad.
South African cricket has its world title, and an enormous weight has been lifted off the shoulders of generations of players. It could be seen in the reactions from former captains including Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock.
Bavuma hopes it will be the catalyst for so much more. “We’ve only been together for two years. There’s so much more for us to achieve. Yes, we’ve created history, but as a group, you know, we’d like to emulate if not do better than what Graeme and his team did," he said.
“So by 2027, I would like us to be in a position where we’ve been able to go to Pakistan and to India and have victories there. From a longevity point of view, to really get the respect as a Test team, we’d like to see where we are within another two years.”
On Saturday evening, as the shadows lengthened across Lord’s, he could bask in this achievement. A beer in one hand, that mace in the other, Bavuma had his moment — and no one deserved it more.
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