“He’s a good lad.” – Misbah-ul-Haq on Temba Bavuma.
Telford Vice | Cape Town
TEMBA Bavuma was a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday when Misbah-ul-Haq shrugged on his blazer, grabbed a team sheet, and headed for the middle hoping to win the toss in his first game as Pakistan’s captain. It was July 2, 2008, and Misbah was not quite 34.
Bavuma, 16 years and 11 days Misbah’s junior, will make a similar trip at Centurion on Friday when he leads South Africa in the opening match of their white-ball series against the Pakistanis. What advice might Misbah, now Pakistan’s coach, have for Bavuma, South Africa’s new white-ball captain?
“The key as a captain is your temperament, and how you are going to operate and handle your players,” Misbah told an online press conference on Monday. “You’ve got to know the strengths of your own team and the psyche of your players. You need information on the opposition, then you can make strategies and tactics. But the important thing is to win the confidence and respect of your own players. You earn the team’s respect by leading by your own example. Then things become easier for you.”
There are parallels between Misbah and Bavuma. Both are from cultures that teach the value of togetherness. Both have served as bridges over their teams’ troubled waters. Both are careful thinkers and deliberate speakers, even in their shared second language — which they have made their own, each in his own inimitable, articulate style.
“At the end of the day I am going to be the guy that the guys are going to be looking to for decision-making and providing the way forward; that’s exactly what I’ll be trying to do,” Bavuma said during another online press conference on Monday. “The work starts off the field, in the communications and the chats we have within our relevant groups. In the game it’s more about executing all the plans and all the communication that we had.”
Is there time and opportunity for a captain to put their stamp on a team in the hurly burly of ODIs and T20Is, where matches can seem to run themselves? “I do believe that in the white-ball stuff the captain is someone of influence,” Bavuma said. “I do believe that I’m someone who can influence things within that space.”
What effect might that influence have on a side unbeaten in their last seven bilateral ODI series but who won only three of their eight completed games at last year’s World Cup? And who have been on the wrong end of the scoreline in four consecutive T20I rubbers? “We have the opportunity, building up to the 2023 World Cup, to define our style of play and how we want to go about our business,” Bavuma said. “We’ve had fruitful chats in the team and things are starting to become clearer. For me it’s to enjoy this journey, this new chapter in my book. It’s to create that style of play and to create something that makes us accountable, and be able to institute that style of play in any conditions and on any occasion. That’s where my thinking is. Mentally we’ll have to improve in terms of getting stronger.”
That won’t be helped by the fact that, after the second ODI at the Wanderers on Sunday, Bavuma will no longer be able to call on Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortjé, who will leave the squad to play in the Indian Premier League. “We’re all aware of the arrangement that is in place,” Bavuma said. “For the first two games we’ve got the liberty of having all our best players. It’s important that we get the positive results from those games. But that’s not to say we’re conceding the result in the third game. We believe we have worth enough replacements to fill those boots.”
It also won’t make Bavuma’s challenge simpler that Pakistan’s quality fast bowlers and hard-charging batters have tended to flourish in South African conditions. “Especially with white-ball cricket, the pitches are very good here; true pitches with good bounce and pace,” Misbah said. “It’s easy for batters to adjust in these conditions — you get value for your shots. And Pakistan have always had the luxury of good fast bowlers. South Africa are very good and they know their conditions, but these conditions also help Pakistani teams as a whole to perform here. Psychologically, if your team performed well in certain conditions previously, that gives you confidence for the future.”
Even so, all Pakistan have to show for their efforts after seven visits to South Africa is victory in an ODI series in 2013/14 and draws in a Test rubber in 1997/98 and the T20Is in 2013/14. But they invariably fight to the end. In four of the series Pakistan have lost in South Africa the home side have prevailed by a single game.
This time it’s not only about what happens on the field. “These are the tough times because of the pandemic, but at the same time it’s our duty as different nations to keep going, keep helping each other, and keep this game alive,” Misbah said. South Africa did their bit in that regard by playing two Tests and three ODIs in Pakistan in January and February — their first tour there, because of security fears, since 2007.
Much has changed since then, including in the way South Africa’s players assert their identity. Asked to comment on the death on Friday of former national selector Luxolo Qoboshiyana, Bavuma said: “I had the opportunity to interact with uboet Lux. He was our selector, and he was also someone you could relate to as a fellow Xhosa person.” It’s not about whether Bavuma considers himself Xhosa first and South African second, or the other way round. It is about him feeling secure enough to be able to parse the difference between those facets of who he is without fear of being seen to stoke division. Bavuma himself has been important in establishing that safe space.
A deliciously South African twist to the tale is that “boet” is colloquial Afrikaans for brother while Xhosas tend to apply the prefix “u” to names or titles, often as a signifier of respect, endearment or approval. For instance, in informal conversation between South African cricket writers during South Africa’s series in Pakistan this year, the matchwinning Mohammad Rizwan became “uRizwan”.
“He’s a good lad, a cool[-headed] player,” Misbah said of his South African soul brother. Bavuma would accept that graciously. As he would, as a script for his first match as South Africa’s captain, what happened on July 2, 2008. MS Dhoni won the toss and batted in an Asia Cup game in Karachi, and India totalled 308/7. Younis Khan was cleared for take-off in Pakistan’s reply. He landed with an undefeated 123. The home side won by eight wickets with 27 balls to spare. At the other end of the pitch, while Younis was dashing and crashing his team to victory, Pakistan’s unflappable No. 5 was compiling a quieter, more considered, comfortably under the radar 70 not out. His name? uMisbah.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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