Bavuma presses claim for SA recall with big hundred

PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa: The debate about the dropping of Temba Bavuma from South Africa’s Test team took another twist on Thursday when Bavuma made a career-best 180 for his franchise team.

Bavuma, the only black African specialist batsman to have played Test cricket for South Africa, was injured before the first Test of the current series against England - but was then left out of the team for the second Test despite having recovered.

Head coach Mark Boucher said it would not have been fair to drop Rassie van der Dussen, Bavuma’s replacement, who made a half-century on debut.

Bavuma was then released to play for the Lions franchise in a domestic four-day competition.

The decision was criticised by advocates of racial transformation despite the fact that Bavuma had an extended run of mediocre form, averaging below 20 for the calendar year of 2019. He was told that he could play his way back into the Test side through weight of runs.