Temba Bavuma throws his hat in the ring to bat at No.4

AB de Villiers has quit international cricket, leaving South Africa to look for someone to fill the No.4 slot in the batting order in Test cricket when they travel to Sri Lanka later in the year.

Temba Bavuma, the 28-year-old middle-order batsman, has set his sights on the vacancy, saying that he will cherish the chance to slot in for de Villiers.

“I'll be opportunistic. There is a role for someone to come in at No. 4 and I'll put up my hand to bat in that position. Hopefully the selectors are looking towards me,” said Bavuma.

Bavuma has played 29 Tests for an average of 34.87 since making his debut in December 2014. Interestingly, during de Villiers’ absence from Test cricket last year, Bavuma did bat at No.4 for a while, performing decently. In five innings over a Test in Manchester and then two at home against Bangladesh, Bavuma scored 167 runs at 41.75.

"Maybe it is something that could help my game because I haven't been able to convert my starts,” said Bavuma, who has one century and 10 half-centuries to his name. “Coming in at No. 4, the opportunity will be there to score those big runs, and you have to score big runs actually. With what I am trying to achieve, it could work hand in hand.”

South Africa have played 12 Tests in Sri Lanka over the tears, winning three and losing four. And when they travelled to India in 2015, they lost the four-Test series 3-0. Bavuma only played the last Test of that series, opening the innings with Dean Elgar, and scored 22 and 34 as South Africa put up just 121 and 143.

“From a team point of view, we didn't do as well as we wanted to so there will be those gremlins in our heads, but I guess we got the opportunity to face the extreme of spin,” said Bavuma. “Hopefully in Sri Lanka it's not like that, but we will try to prepare for the worst and hopefully the good comes.”