I’m black and that’s my skin, but I play cricket because I love it – Bavuma
Proteas batsman Temba Bavuma says the transformation row sparked by him being dropped from the Test team made him uncomfortable.
Bavuma returned to the Proteas Test XI at the Wanderers but couldn’t help a faltering team save a series draw, but he shone in the first ODI in a new-look side.
Bavuma bounces back
The Lions’ batsman scored 98 and enjoyed a huge second-wicket partnership with skipper Quinton de Kock that set up a record run chase at Newlands.
Bavuma’s discomfort stems from being made a poster boy for transformation. He has made a greater impact than any other black batsman in South African cricket, but his successes and his failures carry a terrible weight as a consequence.
He says that being dropped wasn’t something that really bothered him and he bounced back immediately scoring a first-class hundred for the Lions in Pietermaritzburg.
Carrying the weight of transformation
The ODI side that overcame England at Newlands had seven players of colour and four black Africans in the starting XI but Bavuma’s comments make a very good point. These players are not numbers or statistics; they are real people.
“It has been hard, and I think it’s not so much the dropping part,” he said after the triumph at Newlands.
“All players get dropped and everyone goes through slumps of not scoring well.
“The awkwardness and uncomfortability from my side is when you’re thrown into talks of transformation and all of that.
“At the end of the day, yes, I’m black and that’s my skin, but I play cricket because I love it.
“I’d like to think that the reason I’m in the team is because of performances that I’ve put forward from a franchise side and for the national team.
“The discomfort was there, having to navigate myself around all those types of talks. Players get dropped. I won’t be the last guy to get dropped.”
Bavuma takes the good with the bad
Bavuma nonetheless recognises that he has become a role model for young black cricketers, who for so long didn’t have representation in the Proteas team.
“That element is inspiring, when your fellow black African batsmen want to master the craft of batting … that’s something I try take in my stride,” he said.
“The one thing that kind of eats me is that when you do well, transformation is not spoken about but when you do badly, transformation is thrown at the top of the agenda. I’ve got a serious problem with that.
“You’ve got to be able to take the good with the bad.
“If transformation is bad when black African players are not doing well, then when they’re doing well let’s also recognise transformation for what it’s done.
“It comes from the media, it comes from fans … it’s just there.”
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