Neil McKenzie impressed at how captain Temba Bavuma is ‘walking the talk’ for Proteas

Former Proteas batter Neil McKenzie believes Temba Bavuma is starting to “walk the walk”.

McKenzie, who was Sri Lanka’s batting consultant during the recent series against the Proteas, had a close-up view of Bavuma’s recent excellent run of form.

The Proteas captain scored 327 runs at an average of 81.75 across the two Tests, passing 50 in each of his four innings.

The skipper certainly led from the front in claiming the Player of the Series award, which took his team to the summit of the World Test Championship log.

“I think, you know, you set your standards as the captain, and you’ve got to sort of walk the talk – and I think a guy like Graeme Smith, he walked the talk,” McKenzie exclusively told Independent Media yesterday.

“A lot of the South African captains sort of walk the talk. They expect the hard yards to be done, but they don’t shirk their responsibility – and that’s Temba.

“I think he’s starting to convert those starts. His consistency in terms of just starts is unbelievable, and you need that type of player.

“You need the Tembas, who are always chipping into those 60s, 50s, 70s, so it’s nice to see for his own game that he’s got those hundreds.

“He just looks like he’s really clear with what he wants to do out there. When you watch him bat, I think that’s almost, as he captains, a little bit understated – (he) puts the bad ball away from nowhere, (has) got some real pocket power.”

McKenzie believes Bavuma’s batting pedigree is the beacon to which the other batters within the Proteas’ line-up now aspire to. It has led to a culture where all the batters are challenging each other.

This has seen nine different South Africans score Test centuries over the past 12 months, which indicates a genuine healthy batting culture.

“It’s great to see. I mean, I think we’ve sort of dwindled a little bit the last couple of years, with a few combinations, and a lot of guys – young guys trying to find their game... But I think it’s definitely turned a corner,” said McKenzie.

“It’s gone back to sort of what South Africa pride themselves on: lots of players that like getting hundreds and can do the job.

“You look at that sort of top six, seven, they’ve all got a hundred, they’ve all got Test hundreds.

“There’s a bit of competition in that space. They all look like they enjoy playing for each other, for South Africa, and it looks like a real nuggety bunch.”

Furthermore, McKenzie feels the batting unit are thriving due to the full support they are receiving from Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad, who has almost rid the team of their fear of failure.

“Every batter or every young cricket player loves to be backed and loves to be, sort of have that clarity in their game,” he said.

“You’re always looking for clarity as a player in terms of your own game skill-set, but I think in the communication side of things as well – the clarity that you know you’re going to get a go here, and you’re going to get a good run.

“I think with Shuks, he’s obviously seen a lot of the young guys coming through the ranks, so it really bodes well.

“And, you know, all of a sudden it looks like a lot of competition for batting spots, where it didn’t look so bright a couple of years ago.”