Temba Bavuma says straight talk with new coach Shukri Conrad paved way for ODI ton against England
- Nasri Alexander
- 30 January 2023
Temba Bavuma says new South Africa coach Shukri Conrad helped him "cut through all the nonsense" before hitting a match-winning century in the second ODI against England in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
Chasing a mammoth 343-run target against the world champions, the Proteas skipper slammed 109 off 102 balls as the hosts won by five wickets to seal the three-match series with a game to spare.
Bavuma has come severe pressure after his dip in form in T20Is especially after the Proteas were eliminated by the Netherlands at the T20 World Cup late last year.
He was then snubbed by all the six teams for the domestic SA20 tournament and came into the England series having not played any cricket since the Tests in Australia.
Conrad has been installed as the Proteas' new Test coach but is the interim mentor for the current ODI series until Rob Walter takes the reins.
Bavuma said after the victory on Sunday: "It's obviously been an emotional rollercoaster the last couple of months, and I guess for me, it was just being vulnerable to the coach, telling him where I see myself and how I feel about everything.
"It helps that I've worked with Shukri (Conrad) before and he helped me cut through all the nonsense happening in my head and made sure that I was mentally there for the game.
"I think being out of action for the last two weeks, being at home and being away from the game, I think that's also helped me from a mental point of view.
"Being as fresh as I can physically, probably not in the best shape, but mentally I felt that I've been good. People always talk about self-reflection and I went through that process.
"I've been more open towards the team and how we like to go about it and for me, there's a feeling of whatever is going to happen, it'll happen."
It was Bavuma's third century in ODI cricket and he said it was "probably one of my best", maybe even eclipsing his maiden Test ton also made against England in 2016.
He added: "I was seeing the ball quite nicely and I was just trying to score within my areas. Obviously, I took a couple of chances that didn't come off, but I tried to be as brave as I could in terms of how I played.
"It (the century) is probably up there with one of my better ones. To play a hand like that in chasing 340, you have to play well, and obviously as the captain, you want to be a guy who leads from the front, and really inspires the other guys. Yeah, so that was probably one of my best."
Bavuma and his charges will be looking to clean sweep the series 3-0 when they take on England in Kimberley on Wednesday.
