Temba Bavuma has done all the hard work. Now he has the chance to go big and rediscover his form.

We’ve seen this before. In the first Test against Australia in Perth last year, the Proteas stumbled to 32-4 in the first innings, and given the form they were in at the time, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

It took the gritty work of Temba Bavuma (51) and the counter-attacking prowess of Quinton de Kock (84) to come to their aid and rescue the Test.

With the Proteas on 22-3 this morning, the New Zealanders, like the Australians, thought they were in it as well. By the end of the 90 overs, yet again, the visitors had to scramble to regain authority. And once again, Bavuma played a key role.

Going into this series, Bavuma’s Test scores read 8, 21, 3, 8, 10, 0 and 0. He appears to have broken the shackles somewhat with his 38, and on a Dunedin pitch that’s flattening out already. With only two frontline seamers, Bavuma has everything in place to score big.

He’s already struck seven boundaries and faced 101 deliveries, so he will go into day two familiar with the conditions and confident of pushing on. There’s no better opportunity than now to add to the maiden Test century he struck in Cape Town against England last year. If he doesn’t, then at least he’s found the touch that was missing from the Sri Lanka series.

Dean Elgar, meanwhile, continues to be one of the best in the business when the Proteas bat first. In 20 first-innings knocks, Elgar has struck six centuries and one fifty, amassing 1 114 at an average of 65,4. This was arguably his best, given the situation he had to rescue, and he goes into day two one run short of his career-best 129. The big century that’s been lacking from his international career so far, lies in wait.

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