Bavuma’s 179 drives South Africa to innings victory over Australia in Gqeberha

Temba Bavuma scored 179 as South Africa defeated Australia by an innings and 31 runs in Gqeberha, rescuing the Proteas from 98 for five on Day 2 and taking the team to 425.

South Africa were 98 for five on Day 2 before Bavuma produced a substantial innings, receiving support from Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer to lift the total to 425. Australia offered resistance through Travis Head and Scott Boland, and rain posed a significant threat to South Africa’s chance of a result.

“That innings is definitely right at the top as one of my best knocks. I think we saw throughout the day that batting was quite difficult, especially against the new ball. So, I think to be able to perform, to be able to get the team in a very competitive position, I take a lot of pride in that,” Bavuma said of his innings.

“I think it's just basically to try to stay in the moment, right? Like, I think when we were batting, for me, it was all about how we can extend it, how we can go another hour.” “Another hour becomes a session. How we can make sure we keep them on their feet, because we know how that does have an effect. And then, once the opportunity is there, we'll be calling on us to be a lot more ruthless and take that.” “And I think in the second innings, that's exactly what we did. So I think that's how we play our cricket. I think our team, the way we go about it, we play good old Test cricket, try and wear the opposition down and then take them down when the opportunity presents itself,” he added.

“The weather also wanted to play a part in the day. We were a little bit scrambling in the change room, not too sure about the weather. But, yeah, excited as soon as we got on. They made us work for those wickets, those six wickets. And, obviously everyone's happy in the change room,” Bavuma said, acknowledging the tension caused by the conditions and Australia’s resistance.

The victory came after the partnership and Bavuma’s lone effort pushed South Africa into a position of control, culminating in an innings-and-31-runs win over Australia.

The series decider between South Africa and Australia will start on October 27 in Cape Town.