Temba Bavuma had his own-personal curated Lord’s moment, well before his biggest day as Test captain turns up on June 11 when South Africa face Australia in final of WTC. At his township where he grew up in Langa, Bavuma named the most pristine part of the ground ‘Lord’s’ – a hallowed area he loved to bits.
Speaking to Guardian ahead of Wednesday’s WTC, Bavuma said, “There was always some sort of allegiance with Lord’s when we were growing up in Langa,” of an area outside Cape Town.
While the Proteas didn’t exactly get the nest preparation at Arundel with rains interrupting, Bavuma recalled his early years in the dusty township. “In Langa we had a four-way street,” he told Guardian. Out there on that remote ground, Bavuma and his friends carved out Test cricket’s famous names.
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“On the right-hand side of the street the tar wasn’t done so nicely and we used to call it Karachi because the ball would bounce funny. The other side was the MCG [Melbourne Cricket Ground] but my favourite section of the street was clean, and done up nicely, and we called it Lord’s because it just looked better. So, as a kid of 10, I already had that dream of playing at Lord’s,” he told Guardian.
It was the ‘MCG’ however where he learnt batting courage and resilience – it’s the sidestreet where he faced older players. “I’d be playing against 15-year-olds who preferred it because it had a downhill, which helped them when bowling fast. That’s where my competitiveness comes from. Even at 12, you have to front up to the older guys. They’re not going to bowl any slower, or give you half-volleys, just because you’re younger,” he recalled.
Township life back then witnessed violence and murders. “During the day it was OK. It was more at night where all the action happened – if we can call it that. But Langa is rich in its sporting culture and it gave us that space where we found respect and support from the community,” Guardian quoted him.
Picked for his talent, and offered a scholarship at SACS, one of South Africa’s most privileged white schools, he would move to start another journey. “It was tough integrating within the system, learning and understanding the (white) culture,” Bavuma said. “But it helped that I came in as a cricketer. In terms of making friends, it was a bit easier. But I had to learn about discipline and etiquette, which are such big things in that culture,” he told Guardian.
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“I also had to learn confidence. Can you imagine taking a child from the township into a system where, basically, everything is there. There were always doubts. Am I good enough to be here? Do I deserve this opportunity? I always felt the need to prove myself.”
As one of only three black boys at primary school, he commuted from Langa to plush Cape Town, writes Guardian. “As a kid you are quite ignorant. You see things but it’s very hard for you to comprehend – even if the disparity is quite obvious. It would really hit me when SACS played against Langa. At that time Langa was strong in cricket and I would be playing against my friends that I grew up with in the township.”
In a poignant recollection, Bavuma would tell Guardian about how after transferring to another prestigious school, St David’s at Johannesburg (recently named its cricket ground after him), he was fluent and confident I English and studies.
“I would be a SACS boy who’d been there two years. By then you know how to conduct yourself at lunch. You’re not going to dish up a big plate whereas my friends from Langa would have huge plates. We’d laugh about it but, when you think about it, the Langa boy would be wondering when is he going to get another opportunity to eat food like that?” Guardian quoted him as saying.
