South African batting coach Ashwell Prince has made a massive revelation, saying that Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram were ‘adamant’ that the skipper should not retire hurt despite his hamstring injury on Day 3 of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia.
Prince said they were considering taking Bavuma off, knowing that it could hamper the running between the wickets, but Markram was willing to adjust.
Bavuma picked up the injury when he was batting on 6, and the physios took a long time to treat him during the Lunch break. When he decided to play on, he constantly hobbled and the Proteas failed to convert ones into twos and twos into threes.
However, the duo worked their way through, eventually forging a 143*-run stand to put South Africa on the brink of victory at the close of play.
“We had to make a big call whether he continues to bat and how it will affect his strokeplay, how that might affect Aiden’s rhythm," Prince was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “If twos are being turned into one [or] they can’t run the twos or the threes. Both of them were adamant that Temba was going to continue. He wanted to continue.
“Aiden was adamant that the partnership is the key. Obviously, had [Tristan] Stubbs gone in, we would have still had Temba’s wickets intact, but you start a new partnership. They were feeling pretty good and they wanted to continue. Aiden was well aware that he’ll have to curb his intensity just in terms of running between the wickets to allow Temba to ease his way through it."
Markram remained unbeaten at 102 while Bavuma was at 65 as South Africa reached 213/2 at stumps, needing 69 more runs to seal the deal and clinch the coveted title.
Bavuma has dealt with excessive criticism in recent years, and he is now on the verge of scripting one of South Africa’s greatest triumphs.
“Temba is tough," Prince said. “Aiden has great respect for Temba. In fact, I think this team’s greatest strength is the unity that they have in this camp… they are well aware that South Africa have had much greater individual players, but they’ve got something special going on in that dressing room, and that sort of helps them to drag each other along."
“He (Bavuma)’s had to fight throughout his career, and this could be a defining moment for his career," Prince added, holding himself back a bit. “I believe it’s the biggest stage of in terms of Test cricket. Maybe I should answer the question after the game."
