It would seem that if anything goes wrong with South African cricket right now, it must be Temba Bavuma's fault. The man who wasn't taken in the T20 draft embarrassing CSA. The man who tried to stand down from the team in the 2021 World Cup. The man looked like he was still thinking about that in the 2022 event as the Dutch sent them home. And when South Africa couldn't make any runs against Australia, that must be Temba Bavuma again. Even when he made runs, he ran out his teammates. And you still see so many people blame him now that SA batting is utterly horrendous.


South Africa are bad at batting in Tests. That is undeniable at the moment. It was clear before 2022, but playing England and Australia certainly uncovers the truth a lot more. Nothing makes people notice your flaws like playing against the big three teams away from home. Until recently, I was constantly told that I was underrating South Africa. That's been dismissed as fast as their batters are.
And they do get away with it. They can do this because their bowling has been so fantastic that they're third best in Tests over the last five years.
And yet in that same time, they are winning less than half their Tests.
Even though they have such good bowling, their batting is still losing wickets faster than they can take them. They're negative two runs for every wicket.
They're lucky to have such a good record being in the negative, and you can see they are some distance off the best teams.
And so what you have with them is the third-best bowling team and the second-worst when it comes to batting. If you are going to pick a side of the ball you are bad at, batting is better. Because your bowling can keep you winning. But only so often.
Their batting is awful though, I knew they had been poor, and even I was shocked to see them this low. This is the home of Faulkner, the Nourses, Mitchell, Pollock, Richards, the Kirstens, de Villiers, Amla and Kallis.
And you can see how far they have slipped. In the first few years of the millennium, they were either on average and sometimes well in front of it.
Since 2012, they have scored only once more than the average.
If you need it clearer, they used to be almost five runs ahead of the global average.
*South Africa compared to average*
Since 2013, they have been under it by two runs. That's quite a turnaround.
So this is very clear, they are batting horribly. And so they are horrible batters. However, there is something that needs to be pointed out. This is a very tricky era to play pace bowling. Even with everyone thinking the pace playing pandemic is over, it's still hanging on.
South Africa has been facing a lot more spin at home in the last few years. And bowling it more too.
Many in the game over there believe the pitches have changed through global warming. And also they are picking frontline spinners who take wickets and don't just rotate their quicks anymore. But the opposition have joined in by using spinners as well. It's shocking to see them this low down the list. And also not a surprise that the two teams using the Dukes at home are up top.
Of course bowling seam is still doing very well in South Africa. As good as anywhere outside of the West Indies.
Averaging 24 runs per wicket over a long period is insanity. And it's not just there; India and Australia shouldn't have batting averages of sub-30 against pace in their nations. So we know things have changed.
But for South Africa, it actually shows that they are as bad as we think. Because while facing pace is really tough right now, at home they are actually facing so much less than they were six years before.
This isn't part of the pandemic - even though it is clearly making it worse.
But it really is 2013 when it all starts. That is also the last year of Jacques Kallis. Essentially robbing South Africa of their great advantage in modern times. A top-four batter who could deliver 20 overs of mid-level quality seam. But if you look at his record, from 1999 until 2012, he averaged 44 and above every year except one.
In 2013 Father Time caught him out, and that was the first year South Africa started their bad batting form, and the next year he was gone.
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