By Ongama Gcwabe
Gqeberha — Newly appointed Test skipper Temba Bavuma revealed that Shukri Conrad went into the Proteas Test coach role knowing who his captain would be and believed that Bavuma was the right man for the job.
New Test captain Temba Bavuma addressed the media for the first time after being appointed last week. Bavuma’s first task will be a series at home against the West Indies.
Bavuma revealed that head coach Shukri Conrad initiated the Test captaincy conversations as far back as the England ODI series in Bloemfontein and Kimberley.
“That (Test captaincy) conversation happened during the prep for that England series. No decision was really made at that point in time. It was left for me to consider and for him to go speak to Dean who was still captain then,” Bavuma said on Friday.
“The communication came from Shukri naturally with him being announced Test coach. He explained to me where he wanted to take the team and he wanted me to be the guy to take the team to those heights, to fulfil that vision.”
Bavuma did not naively jump at the opportunity to lead the Test side, he wanted to know from Conrad why he was the right guy for the job.
“I had certain questions I wanted to ask with regard to why me? Why me for the role?
“With what he said to me I was quite satisfied to do the job.”
Cricket South Africa also announced that Bavuma has stepped down from the T20 captaincy role. Bavuma believes he made the right decision for the team and for everyone involved by letting the T20I captaincy go.
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“Like I said to everyone, I was always going to consider my role when it comes to the white ball stuff. It is probably in the best interests of the team and everyone involved. I always going to make that decision, it was just a matter of when.
“I think there was no urgency at least from my side to step out and say that I’m stepping down in T20 cricket. The way things have started is the way Enoch wanted them to be.”
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