Another domestic four-day campaign ended with little sign of the Proteas’ next black African batsman emerging. The system is broken and needs a reset, writes RYAN VREDE.
One – the number of black African batsmen in the top 10 run-getters in this season’s 4-Day Domestic Series.
The Boland Rocks’ Aviwe Mgijima scored 504 runs, including two fifties and two centuries, at an average touching 46. This ranked him sixth on the list.
It would be remiss not to note that his 14 innings were the most of any batsmen, barring teammate Janneman Malan (14), in the top 50 batsmen in the series. The series’ leading run-scorer, Marques Ackerman, played 11 innings for his 571 runs. Tristan Stubbs, ranked second, played nine innings for his 562 runs.
Outside of Mgijima, just three black African batsmen feature in the top 20. The North West Dragons’ Lesego Senokwane (ranked 12th) scored 455 runs (two centuries) at an average of 37.91. Notably, 237 of his runs (52%) came in two of his 12 innings.
The KZN Dolphins’ Tshepang Dithole (ranked 13th) scored 451 runs (one century, two fifties) at an average of 41.29, with 66% of his runs coming in three of his 13 innings.
Grant Mokoena (ranked 17th) of the Dragons scored 441 runs (one century, two fifties) at an average of 41.31, with 70% of those runs coming in three of his 10 innings.
Proteas Test captain Temba Bavuma played just three innings in the tournament, scoring 122 runs (scores of 77, nought and 45) at an average of 40.
Just twice in the last 13 domestic four-day seasons have there been more than three black African batsmen in the top 20. Just eight times in the last 13 seasons have black African batsmen been in the top 10. And for seven of those 13 campaigns, there’ve been zero or one in the top 20.
Back to the present day.
Mgijima’s form is good and worthy of celebration. However, an overall first-class average of 26 suggests he is a competent first-class player who had a good season, rather than one ready for Test consideration.
He is also 35 years old, and while I believe there is a place in Test cricket for late developers, there are younger, more prolific top-order options in domestic cricket.
Indeed, Bavuma bats at No 4 – where Mgijima does for Boland – for the Proteas.
Similarly, Senokwane (26) has an overall first-class average of 28, Dithole (30) averages 27, while Mokoena (36) averages 30.
Bavuma is 33 and beginning to enter the back end of his Test career. Recently, his body has betrayed him consistently, suggesting that the end could be nearer than he or CSA would have envisioned.
CSA’s new board has done excellent work across numerous facets of cricket in South Africa. However, its (and by extension the teams under its jurisdiction) strategies for developing elite black African batting talent continue to be exposed as flawed.
It’s an indictment of CSA’s competence that 33 years after readmission to international cricket, Bavuma remains the only black African batsman to establish himself in the Test side.
I understand the complexities associated with this process. In a piece published in 2022, I wrote: “There is so much that goes into enabling a talented black African batsman to touch the ceiling of his potential. As a start, the cost of high-quality batting gear is prohibitively expensive for most, access to adequate practice and match facilities remains an issue, and high-calibre coaching in township clubs and schools is virtually non-existent, among myriad other factors.”
But more than three decades of opportunity for CSA to get this right has amounted to a single black African batsman consistently playing Test cricket.
This is completely unacceptable and must be corrected through visionary leadership with an appetite for change.
Black African batsmen across 13 four-day seasons
2023-24 – 4 black Africans in top 20
Aviwe Mgijima ranked sixth with 504 runs with an average of 45.81
2022-23 – 0 black Africans in top 20
Highest ranked was Khaya Zondo at 22nd
2021-22 – 4 black Africans in top 20
Tshepang Dithole ranked ninth with 489 runs at an average of 61.12
2020-21 – 1 black African in top 20
Khaya Zondo in 16th with 324 runs at an average of 40.50
2019-20 – 0 black Africans in top 20
Highest ranked was Wandile Makwetu at 23rd
2018-19 – 3 black Africans in top 20
Sinethemba Qeshile ranked fifth with 735 runs at an average of 52.50, Grant Mokoena ranked 16th with 524 runs at 29.11 and Sibonelo Makhanya in 18th with 503 runs at 31.43
2017-18 – 1 black African in top 20
Omphile Ramela ranked 12th with 596 at an average of 35.05
2016-17 – 3 black Africans in top 20
Khaya Zondo ranked fourth with 740 runs at an average of 67.27, Lesiba Ngoepe 15th with 503 runs at 33.53 and Aviwe Mgijima 20th with 431 runs at 28.73
2015-16 – 1 black African in top 20
Omphile Ramela ranked ninth with 592 runs at an average of 42.28
2014-15 – 2 black Africans in top 20
Omphile Ramela ranked fifth with 724 runs at an average of 48.26 and Temba Bavuma 14th with 555 runs at 69.37
2013-14 – 2 black Africans in top 20
Temba Bavuma ranked sixth with 714 runs at 39.66 and Khaya Zondo 13th with 541 runs at 38.64
2012-13 – 1 black African in top 20
Temba Bavuma ranked fifth with 537 runs at an average of 31.58
2011-12 – 1 black African in top 20
Temba Bavuma ranked 11th with 637 runs at an average of 53.08
READ: AB boosts black batting camp
Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
