Bavuma, Rickelton prove, in their own special ways, that they can and they will

Bavuma came to the crease with the same kind of conviction. Though he was the leading run-scorer in the series against Sri Lanka, his dismissal at SuperSport Park was so distressing – he walked when he had not nicked Mohammad Abbas and sparked a South African collapse that nearly cost them the game – that he hid in the bathroom until they were 15 runs away from winning. After that, Bavuma spoke passionately about being “berated and ridiculed” for playing with a hamstring injury in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final and the sounds of silence he has battled though this summer with two heavily strapped elbows. Those didn’t bother him in this innings, but he had cramp in the calf as he entered the 90s and asked Rickelton to “pull the old man through.”When his hundred came, Bavuma broke into a celebration that was completely out of character. He pumped his elbows several times, ran almost all the way to the boundary and cut his bat through the air as though he was slicing through criticism. What was that about? “The celebration just happened spontaneously,” Bavuma said afterwards.Temba Bavuma celebrates his fourth Test ton•Gallo Images/Getty Images”Obviously there was a lot of emotion behind it, more around the fact of having crossed the three-figure mark. I was quite frustrated at my last innings at Centurion – the manner that I went out, albeit I was obviously trying to make a play for the team. I wanted to make a bigger contribution towards the team and get away from the 40s and 50s that I have been getting. The celebration was around that. And also to prove to myself that I can play when there’s not much on the game.”There’s a poetic synchrony to Bavuma scoring the hundreds at Newlands. It’s the ground where he made his first Test hundred nine years ago, against England. Then, he was the face of hope in an experienced batting line-up; now he is the experience in a hopeful one. “The situations were a bit different. The first time I came in there was a bigger partnership that had been laid by Hash(im Amla), Faf (du Plessis) and the boys. Obviously I was under pressure as well from my place on the team,” he said. “Today, I was hitting the ball out the middle from relatively early on within my innings. It probably seemed a lot more fluent. I don’t think I made a lot of mistakes so there was a lot more class here if I could say.”And a lot more seniority and a lot of people looking up to him, including Rickelton. The two are domestic team-mates and to share a record-partnership in the New Year’s Test – South Africa’s marquee match of the season – in front of a sellout crowd with festive vibes fizzing in the air is something they will both remember for a long time to come. “We don’t talk a lot (when we’re batting), but we just emphasise doing the basics for long periods of time,” Rickleton said. “To share the partnership out there with the captain of South Africa, also captain of the Lions, is special for me and I like to think for him also. It was just really, really cool.”