SA vs ENG: Temba Bavuma calls for fair judgement of South African cricket's transformation

South African batsman Temba Bavuma’s place in national team has been a debate since 29-year old made his Test debut in 2014. With Cricket South Africa having a reservation system that national team should mandatorily field six players of colour, counting at least two black Africans, on aver over course of a season, Temba Bavuma has been a constant in South African XI since 2016, despite his patchy form. Bavuma has admitted that frequently being observed through prism of his skin colour has weighed on him and has requested for South Africa's transformation procedure to be recognised for its positives if it is going to be criticised for its failures.

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SA vs ENG: Temba Bavuma's Test snub causes debate

Temba Bavuma has been a regular in South Africa's Test team for past four years, but was injured for opening Test match against England on Boxing Day. He recovered in time for New Year's Test but was left out of side for his lacklustre form,  having scored only one century in his career. Bavuma was asked to work on his batting and return on weight of his runs under guidance of South African legend and new batting consultant Jacques Kallis.  

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SA vs ENG: Bavuma credits Jacques Kallis for improvement in form

Within two weeks, Temba Bavuma responded to call for runs with a career-best 180 in a first-class fixture for Lions. innings allowed Bavuma to force his way into playing XI for Test series finale. He was also called up in ODI squad and is likely to be part of T20 side. He is only black African batsman in South Africa's set-up, which is why his Test snub resulted in a major controversy. Temba Bavuma credited Jacques Kallis saying that South African legend has been very open in sharing his expertise in batting while also giving Bavuma a breath of fresh air.

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SA vs ENG: Bavuma took  break as an opportunity to reassess his goals

Temba Bavuma said that he took snub from team as an opportunity to reassess his own game, while reflect and realign his goals and strengths. Bavuma admitted that he is black, but he plays cricket because he loves game. Bavuma said that he is in XI because of his performances and t because of his skin colour or because of South Africa's transformation procedure. He furr added that it is t a big deal that he got dropped as it is a part and parcel of game.

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SA vs ENG: Jofra Archer racism

Jofra Archer was subjected to racist abuse in England's tour of New Zealand late 2019. incident brought to light that racism still exists and players of colour are victims to it. Jofra Archer is t part of SA vs ENG tour after form deserted him post 2019 World Cup high.