Australia vs South Africa: Temba Bavuma's selector backlash points to more problems for struggling South Africa

They lost the first two Test matches and the series and will head to the final Test at Sydney with their World Test Championship (WTC) last hopes hanging by a thread.

And to make things worse, there are also signs of conflict within the South African set-up.

Temba Bavuma, one of the side's senior pros and vice-captain of the Test team, has hit out at the selectors for what he feels is a pretty obvious oversight going into the final Test. The batting needs some cover.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🇿🇦 Gearing up for the Sydney Test.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvSA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AUSvSA</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WTC23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WTC23</a> <a href="https://t.co/edG26BgJph">pic.twitter.com/edG26BgJph</a></p>&mdash; ICC (@ICC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1609829601231896576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"It would be nice to have an extra batter. The batting does look a bit thin. I mean, that's obvious," Bavuma had said.

It speaks a lot about the team's issues, which should have been resolved behind closed doors.

But it is also worth noting that this tour has been humbling for the South African team, and this is especially true of their batting.

Their batting line-up ranges from players with a lot of experience – think Bavuma or skipper Dean Elgar – to others with little to no experience.

It is a tricky balance to strike as a team, and it is one that the Proteas have managed to not juggle in the least.

On top of that, it is doubly embarrassing because, before the series, a lot of the talk had been about the Newland ball-tampering scandal and some renewed South African aggression.

The ball-tampering saga was one of the low points of the Australia vs South Africa matches, and that says quite a lot, given there's no love lost between either side.

And coming into the series, Elgar had been vocal about South Africa being ready to give it back to the Aussies if they tried any of their mental warfare tactics on them.

Instead, Australia have chosen to let their cricket do the talking. They are 2-0 ahead and have sealed the series with little unnecessary chirping on their parts.

Much of this has to do with South Africa's batting line-up not having the experience to match up to a formidable Australian bowling attack.

And according to Bavuma, this could be a good learning experience for the team in the future.

"Disappointing how we've gone out as a team in the two Test matches. This is different from what we prepared for as a team, and it doesn't do justice to all the work we put in.

"We've come here to Australia as well and they've asked questions and we haven't had answers to them. International cricket is a brutal, brutal sport and a lot of us are learning that."

 

One can only hope they have learned a little more going into the final Test in Sydney, or they risk being easily whitewashed.