Proteas skipper Bavuma caps off miserable Centurion batting return with historic Test pair

Proteas Test captain Temba Bavuma

At SuperSport Park, Centurion

Proteas Test skipper Temba Bavuma became the fourth member of an inglorious club of Test match leaders who bagged a pair on their leadership debut on Wednesday.

Bavuma was twice collected by West Indian paceman Alzarri Joseph on the first and second days of the first Test to join Australian Mark Taylor, Pakistan’s Rashid Latif, and Bangladesh’s Habibul Bashar in the not-so-distinguished group.

In the first innings, Bavuma was trapped leg before after two balls by Joseph on the first afternoon, but on a high-pressured second evening, he was caught behind by Joshua da Silva to complete a miserable first game with the bat as skipper.

Taylor was the first of the captaincy lot to bag a pair on leadership debut, with his blobs coming against Pakistan in Karachi in 1994.

Latif was subjected to that ignominy against South Africa in Gqeberha in 1998, while Bashar, who captained a rather rudimentary Bangladeshi side, faced five balls across his pair against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2004.

The trio of skippers all found themselves on the losing side, with Taylor’s Australians being pipped to the post in the timeless Karachi Test that Pakistan won by one wicket.

Latif’s disjointed Pakistan team was subjected to a 259-run beating, while Bangladesh were beaten by 183 runs.

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