‘Everyone wants to get a hundred, especially me’ – Temba Bavuma

If Temba Bavuma was disappointed at being left stranded on 95 when the last South African wicket fell in the Johannesburg Test against Australia on Saturday 31 March, Morne Morkel’s frustration at not being able to give his partner the support he needed was equally apparent.

Morkel, playing his last Test match, fended Pat Cummins to Peter Handscomb at second slip to signal the end of the South Africa first innings and flung his bat and Bavuma could do nothing to comfort the No.11.

“Morne is very disappointed; I kind of felt for him and it took away the disappointment that I had. You almost had to give him the shoulder to cry on,” said Bavuma.

Bavuma last made a Test century – his only one – in 2016 against England, but wasn't disappointed with Morkel. “I would never be cross at Morne or the other batter. I can only look at myself and look back at my innings and maybe there were opportunities that I let go that I could have turned into a hundred,” he said.

“Everyone wants to get a hundred, especially me. As a batter, first and foremost, you like to score centuries. This is probably one of the innings that I'll savour in my career. It wasn't easy for me, especially having come from having not much cricket. Looking at my career and what I have done for the team, there are other areas I can take comfort and confidence from.

“It's not like I second-guess my position. I know that I have done enough to push for a position. In a selfish way, I want to have more hundreds, but I will take my career as it has panned out.”

The 27-year-old middle-order batsman looked determined from the very beginning, having walked in following the dismissals of Aiden Markram and Faf du Plessis off consecutive Cummins deliveries. After scoring 25 on the first evening, Bavuma started the second morning with a single but then didn’t score a run for almost 12 overs.

It took him 35 deliveries to get moving again, and when he did, it was followed by the crowd's loud applause. He soon brought up his 10th Test half-century in 120 deliveries.

“I know that generally at the Wanderers in the morning it's quite hard for the batters to score,” said Bavuma. “The wicket is still soft so the ball generally nips and swings a bit more. I was just moving with the belief that later on it would get easier and the bowlers would get tired and I would get opportunities to score.

“I think they bowled very well in the morning and I had to respect that. My confidence and comfort came from knowing that I'd be able to score my runs later on.

“I had to exercise a lot of discipline. I've been in situations like that before – it was similar in England at The Oval, where the ball was moving around and you had to stay out there, keep calm and understand there will be a point where you can score runs. Then you need to be in the right mental state to dominate. That's what I tried to do today and thankfully it came off.”