ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – Aus vs SA – semi-final – Temba Bavuma on semi-final availability: ‘I’m quite confident’

Temba Bavuma has confirmed that he feels “alright, but obviously not 100%” after sustaining a hamstring injury in South Africa’s last league match against Afghanistan last Friday, and he is “quite confident” of playing in the semi-final against Australia.

“Physically, I feel alright. Obviously not 100%,” he said in Kolkata. “So obviously this day [today] becomes important in terms of the decision about tomorrow [match day]. I’m quite confident but it’s not a unilateral decision that will be made.”

South Africa no longer have a selection panel in place and decisions on the final XI are left entirely to the coach. That means the buck will stop with Rob Walter, who, yesterday, said there was no conversation around dropping Bavuma on form (he has scored 145 runs from seven matches at an average of 20) and that Bavuma would be given “best chance to play for his country”. Walter could not confirm when the final call will be taken but said “in an ideal world” he would not wait until the morning of the match. Bavuma himself said the team would be announced at a private meeting tonight, while a team spokesperson said the media and public would find out about Bavuma at the toss.

All we have to go on then, is what we’ve been told and what we have seen from Bavuma this week. After he strained his hamstring, he was not taken for a scan but had the weekend to rest. The squad had a day off on Saturday and travelled from Ahmedabad to Kolkata on Sunday. Questions on why he did not need a scan were unanswered.

They have since attended three training sessions, but both Monday’s and Wednesday’s were optional, and Bavuma was in attendance at all of them. On Monday, he did fitness drills and batted for more than an hour and team management said he was making “objective signs of improvement”. On Tuesday, he did more intense running drills including some sprinting, a fielding session with one-handed pick-up and throws, and batted again, with an emphasis on footwork. And today, after addressing the media, Bavuma did some hopping and stretching exercises, sideways running and more fielding before some shadow-batting on the pitch. ESPNcricinfo has confirmed that he did not do a fitness test.

What we don’t know is what, if anything, Bavuma still needs to do to be passed fit. Asked directly which boxes he still needed to tick today, Bavuma said: “I think it’s just using the rest day to continue with my rehab and I’ll be doing some fielding stuff. I can’t tell you medically, but I think for me, from a feeling point of view, that’s what I can attest to.”

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