For Temba Bavuma, one wait is over but another goes on. Three months after he last made a contribution with the bat for South Africa, against Zimbabwe in the Boxing Day Test, Bavuma has another score to confirm his promising future without having the second Test century that South Africa have craved since that golden afternoon at Newlands more than two years ago.
AUSTRALIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018
Bavuma's moment in the sun, and the promise of more
Bavuma came to the crease in the wake of Pat Cummins's double-strike and went on to score a match and series defining innings. © AFP
That wait has hung over Bavuma, providing a sense of a prolonged landing in the Test arena without a confirmed arrival. But by the time he was left stranded on Saturday, ensuring another delay for the landmark, Bavuma had already put the wheels down, taxied into the parking bay and had his arrival as a Test player cleared by the authorities. He only had 95 to his name, but the circumstances were such that the missing five runs were an almost irrelevant statistic.
To begin with, it is worth putting Bavuma's innings into the context of everything he has been through this year. Left out of the first two Tests against India as South Africa opted for a five-man attack, he went away to play some cricket during the break in the series and duly broke his finger whilst fielding in a franchise game. South Africa's selectors wanted to play an extra batsman at the Wanderers, and Bavuma would have been that batsman.
Instead he missed the Test as well as the one-day series, when he might have gained an opportunity to crack the ODI side, and hoped to return in time for the Australia series. But as South Africa reverted back to six specialist batsmen, Bavuma's hand was still regaining its strength. Theunis de Bruyn took the spot on the back of some hefty first-class innings for the Knights, and showed enough guts in the second innings of the first Test to suggest that he deserved a proper run - something he is still to be afforded.
When the selectors met to discuss their options for the Newlands Test, there was a feeling that a 50-50 call between Bavuma and de Bruyn might be decided by the transformation numbers game. With Lungi Ngidi ruled out through injury and South Africa already set to
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