Bavuma carries Proteas’ hopes as Sri Lanka rattle top order

Durban — It has been seven weeks since Temba Bavuma last batted. He would have preferred better circumstances for his return, but this is Durban, where rain and cricket go together like garam masala and curry. 

Sri Lanka’s tight bowling and the gloomy conditions they could exploit left SA reeling at 80/4 in the 20.4 overs that were all bowled before lunch at Kingsmead, before a premature close was called on Wednesday afternoon of a rain-affected day one.

Fifteen minutes after the anthems were completed, Bavuma, donning a salmon-coloured arm-sleeve strode down the steps from the changeroom, to see if the recovery from his left tricep muscle strain was genuine. 

Training suggested it was, but getting throw-downs from coaches and batting in the nets doesn’t carry the same level of stress, nor is it as demanding as what Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara dished up here. 

The sun also shone in Tshwane last week, where Bavuma completed his fitness test, which confirmed his readiness for this match. But for a few seconds of sunshine, Bavuma batted in horrible murkiness, so bad the officials had the floodlights in use from the moment play started.

Already, Dhananjaya de Silva’s good fortunate at winning the toss had been rewarded with the wickets of the openers.

Aiden Markram pushed at a ball that nipped away from him that he edged to first slip. Tony de Zorzi failed to manage a ball that bounced and moved, giving a gleeful Mamindu Mendis a catch at second slip. 

Bavuma nudged the first ball he faced into the covers and took a quick single to get started. He was dropped at third slip by Dimuth Karunaratne off the ninth ball of his innings. Though batting wasn’t a complete lottery, it required luck to get through that first hour, which Bavuma will probably think he deserved given how many injuries he’s had to deal with in the past three years.   

As well as Sri Lanka bowled, they also went searching for wickets by trying to get the ball to swing and thus bowling too full. That allowed Bavuma some respite and he unleashed a couple of sweetly-timed drives against Asitha Fernando, which illustrated a degree of comfort that would have imbued confidence.

A partnership of 32, with Tristan Stubbs, kept Sri Lanka at bay, but SA were neither in control nor gaining the ascendancy. Stubbs was finding life difficult because of the light and wasn’t helped by the glare off the electronic sight screen, at what was previously known as the Old Fort Road End. 

The Proteas No 3 edged the first ball after an animated discussion with the umpires, about covering the sight screen, to Karunaratne, who perhaps also battling to spot the ball, needed assistance from his thighs to secure the catch. 

Bavuma’s focus slipped momentarily, 12 minutes before the scheduled lunch break, when he attempted to hook an ill-directed bouncer from Lahiru and got a thin edge that flew through to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis. 

Fortunately for the SA captain, TV umpire Joel Wilson informed his on-field colleagues that the bowler had overstepped the front line. 

It was another reprieve that deep down Bavuma would say he deserves. Seven weeks of rest and rehabilitation led to 95 minutes of hard labour on the first day of a critical set of Tests for him and his team.

With less than 100 runs on the board and almost half their batters gone, the Proteas are in no position to look much further than the first hour of play that awaits on Thursday.

Bavuma has only scored 28 runs and so much more needs to be done by him and what remains of a Proteas batting order, which features Keshav Maharaj at No 11. 

Conditions are forecast to get easier, and there’ll even be sunshine, say the experts. Bavuma will hope that it will shine on him.