Temba Bavuma ‘super excited’ for young Kwena Maphaka’s Test debut
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma is “super excited” for Kwena Maphaka ahead of the teenager’s Test debut against Pakistan in the second Test starting at Newlands on Friday.
Maphaka, who is 18 years and 269 days old, will become the youngest South African to make his Test debut eclipsing Paul Adams’ previous record of 18 years and 340 days when he featured in the fourth Test against England at St George’s Park back in 1995.
The former St Stithians pupil has already featured in two ODI’s and five T20I’s for the Proteas since his record-breaking performances for the SA U19 team in last year’s ICC Under 19 World Cup in South Africa.
“We've seen what he's capable of, but he hasn't played a lot of football, but he's shown the potential to survive and thrive at the highest level,” Bavuma told reporters on Thursday.
“He exudes the talent that he's shown. We wanted to go with an extra bit of pace as well, so that's where his selection came into it.
“Unfortunately, a guy like Dane Paterson, who has been so good for us, he misses out.
“We're quite excited for Kwena. Also, considering the fact that we've got a series on the line, we want to give an opportunity to a young guy, not when there's no consequence to it.
“I think whatever happens, from his point of view, from a performance point of view, that will put him in good stead.
“Super excited for Kwena. I'm sure he'll be looking forward to be running in with KG (Kagiso Rabada) over the next five days. Yeah, super excited for the young talent,” he added.
Maphaka is one of three changes to the Proteas team that sensationally won the first Test by two wickets last week at Centurion.
Opening batter Tony de Zorzi is struggling with a thigh strain, while seamers Paterson and Corbin Bosch will sit out the Newlands Test. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and allrounder Wiaan Mulder both return to the starting XI.
Having spent some time with the teenager during the ODI series, Bavuma has been impressed with Maphaka with the maturity and competitiveness he has displayed.
“A super confident young guy. Seems to have a better understanding of his game, especially at his age. Strong competitor as well,” Bavuma.
“I guess you kind of see it in all the other things that we do, whether it's playing soccer. And, you know, he seems like he wants to be the man for the team. I guess for us, it's more to support him and make him feel free to continue being the person that he is.”
The skipper also stressed that the Proteas will look to maintain their intensity despite having already qualified for the World Test Championship Final as they look to close out the series 2-0.
“The series is still on the line, so as much as we ticked off that box of being in the final, we still like to be clinical in the series,” Bavuma said.
“We are eyeing 2-0 so our focus, our motivation is still there. I think also as a team, as much as we won last week.
“We accept that we went our best heading in, so in terms of improving in those areas, we would like to see ourselves being a lot better than we were last week.”
TEAMS FOR NEWLANDS
Proteas: Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma ©, David Bedingham, Kyle Verryenne (capt), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha.