Temba Bavuma is back in His A Game Thanks to Shukri

Temba Bavuma of South Africa has credited the help of new coach Shukri Conrad which enabled the skipper to regain his best form. Picture: Frikkie Kapp/BackpagePix

Shukri helped me cut through the nonsense in my head, says Temba Bavuma

Temba Bavuma has always been able to bat. It is a talent that he has been bestowed with since first picking up a willow as a little boy in Langa.

He just needed to believe that he could bat again. And more importantly, he needed someone that he trusted to tell him so.

That someone was new Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad. For all Conrad’s outwardly bombastic demeanor, the 55-year-old is blessed with the “soft skills” that players yearn for in a coach. Just read former captain Faf du Plessis’ autobiography.

After months of being trapped on “an emotional rollercoaster,” Bavuma was finally able to off-load the baggage that had been weighing him down. It wasn’t done on a couch somewhere, but rather on the Mangaung Oval outfield ahead of the ODI series against England.