Clan-Members » of his fight. By lunch, Bavuma had faced 201 de

When Moeen Ali danced down the pitch and lofted Yasir Shah over long-on to bring up his century in the fourth Test, at The Oval, I felt a tingle in my eye.Maybe I was just tired. Perhaps it had been a long day at the computer screen. Either way, this was not the first time a snippet of cricket had threatened to turn me into a snivelling wreck.I was sitting in the same spot a year ago the last time it happened. Adam Voges sliced a ball to Ben Stokes at gully, who flung himself backwards like an Olympic gymnast. On the radio, Jonathan Agnew exploded into life. And hes brilliantly caught! Brilliantly caught! That is an outrageous catch!I swallowed hard and glanced around the office to check nobody was looking. As eye-watering pieces of commentary go, it was up there with: The new world record-holder is Brian Charles Lara of Trinidad and Tobago; Stephen Harmison with a slower ball - one of the great balls; and, of course: Jones! Bowden!I get more excited, angry, nervous and overjoyed about cricket than I do about anything in normal life. Once, when England made a vital breakthrough in the 2013 Ashes, I shouted so loudly the neighbours came round to check I was okay.A therapist would probably tell me it all stems from childhood. I went to my first Test match aged six: England v West Indies at Edgbaston. The scorecard tells me England finished day three on 158 for 8 in their second innings, just 52 ahead, with Derek Pringle and Chris Lewis at the wicket. That explains a lot.Growing up as an English cricket fan in the 1990s, as Emma John says in her wonderful book Following On, was a painful business. Enduring defeat after defeat was one thing, but the glimmers of hope - Barbados 94, Johannesburg 95, Edgbaston 97 - kept me coming back for more.When Devon Malcolm pummelled South Africa at The Oval and Dean Headley sliced through the Aussies in Melbourne, I asked myself why they couldnt do it more often.Every time Mark Ramprakash compiled a flawless 27 before spooning a long hop to cover point, it broke another piece of my fragile young heart. In Brisbane in 98, Alan Mullallys stupid hands got in the way of the stumps, blocking a direct hit that would have run out Steve Waugh. I was furious and stormed off to my bedroom in a strop.The emotions were no less raw when it came to county cricket. On my first visit to Lords, Warwickshire chased down 322 to beat Sussex off the last ball of the NatWest Trophy final. In many ways, nothing I have experienced since has been able to live up to that day. The following season the Bears, inspired by Dermot Reeve and Lara, won an unprecedented domestic treble.I thought this was normal, that the champagne would keep flowing and the glory would last forever. It wasnt, it wouldnt, and it didnt. One of the low points of the comedown was utter humiliation in the 97 final, Essex winning by nine wickets with 33 overs to spare. I fought back tears on the train home as my dad reminded me the next was the first of the new school term.Some people see injustice and are driven to seek a life in politics, campaigning or law. I saw Gloucestershire beat Warwickshire to the 2000 NatWest Trophy on the Duckworth-Lewis method after a brief rain shower. We left the ground in bright sunshine and cursed all the way back to Marylebone. Character-building, you might say. Bloody stitch-up, we said.In 2005, as every schoolboy surely knows by heart, everything changed. I was in a student-union bar, holding back tears of joy, when Messrs Bowden and Koertzen removed the bails and Michael Atherton chuckled: What a performance from these two gentlemen! To this day I cannot bring myself to watch highlights of that series without taking a few deep breaths and warning anyone in the immediate vicinity to be ready with the Kleenex.Picture, if you will, a typical English cricket fan. Stiff upper lip, wry gallows humour, weary sense of detachment, ready at any moment to add two wickets to the score. My grandad fits this description perfectly. Whenever Im on holiday or otherwise engaged, he sends me a message telling me how badly England are doing. When I visited him during this summers third Test against Pakistan, England were 120 without loss on the fourth morning. As the clock ticked past 11am, grandad came striding across the garden to tell me both openers had gone in the first few overs of the day. I kicked the ground and clenched my fists; he just laughed and shook his head.Nothing makes me feel as strongly as cricket does. Walls have been punched in anger, nails chewed in anxiety, car horns beeped in relief. It must look very odd from the outside, and I have thought long and hard about why it happens. Is it physiological or psychosomatic? Was I programmed from birth to well up at the sight of white-flannelled figures on village greens and the sound of leather on willow?Perhaps there are parallels to be drawn between cricket and art. Some folk get weepy at a particularly stirring piece of ballet, a rousing opera, or a Van Gogh painting. They are at a similar loss to explain why: All I know is it touches something deep inside me.Im not especially fussed about dancing, singing or painting. But I happen to have a weakness for languid cover drives, short silly mid-ons, and the irresistible allure of the lbw law.Oh, hang on - weve just lost another wicket. 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Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night.South Africa got an early sighting of the future on the third day of the Hobart Test and the good news is that it appears bright. In Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock, they have a middle-order pair who balance caution and creativity, and at 26 and 23 years old respectively, could serve them for at least the next five years.Both have roots in Johannesburg, the city of gold, where they each attended prestigious sporting schools - Bavuma was at St Davids, de Kock at King Edward VII - and played for the Lions. But it is here in Hobart, some might say the city of cold, where their Test tryst has truly blossomed. They put on 144 together, the highest sixth-wicket partnership by a visiting team at the Bellerive Oval, and stretched South Africas lead to what may turn out to be a match-winning one.In a morning session that ground Australias attack down, Bavuma and de Kock underlined the difference between the two sides. Its not just that South Africas batsmen have the temperament to spend time in the middle, its that their newer batsmen do. Australias middle-order has not yet shown that temperament. It isnt the first time on this tour that Bavuma and de Kock have done this - in Perth, South Africa were 81 for 5 when the pair come together and added 71, which helped the visitors move to 242.In Hobart, when Bavuma and de Kock came together on the first day, South Africa were already ahead. They had recovered from 76 for 4, when Bavuma had walked in to bat, to 132 for 5. Bavuma was on 28 off 51 balls, had survived a few early scares and earned the praise of former South Africa captain Graeme Smith. I love Temba Bavuma, keep going big man, Smith tweeted.If South Africa were to extend their advantage, Bavuma needed a partner and thats where de Kock was crucial. They complemented each other perfectly.Bavuma has already shown an appetite for a fight. In Perth, he spent two hours and 17 minutes helping Faf du Plessis save South Africa from a first-innings collapse. He has an ability to absorb pressure.De Kock has the capacity to transfer pressure back to the bowler. He is an energetic player who does not allow anyone to dictate his approach. Perhaps, he has a bit of the David Warner license to play his natural game, but he does not abuse that. He is inventive, risk-taking and quick-scoring.With a stubborn batsman at one end and a busy one at the other, Australia spent the morning session under the pump. They were able to make things look more difficult for Bavuma, especially in Mitchell Starcs opening spell. He moved the ball away, probed the area outside off stump, trying to incite the drive, but Bavuma was not tempted. He is a compact player with a tight technique, who makes the opposition work for his wicket. Josh HHazlewood almost claimed it - he got a ball to kick up and Bavuma nearly played on while trying to fend it.dddddddddddd He survived and got two off the next ball to reach his second fifty on this tour.De Kock had begun the day 10 runs behind Bavuma, but caught up quickly. His fifty came off 70 balls, and then he surged past Bavuma. While Bavuma fought through the 50s, de Kock raced to 80. He created run-scoring opportunities by playing late, piercing gaps and maintained a consistent scoring rate throughout his innings. De Kocks first fifty had taken him 70 balls and the second took 69. Instinctive shots is how he described what he did on Monday.Compare that to the 119 balls Bavuma faced for his fifty, and you have an idea of the difference between them. For a team, having two players of this calibre is ideal and the results are showing.In this year, de Kock has scored 560 runs in six Tests at an average of 80.00, while Bavuma has accumulated 465 runs in seven Tests at 58.12. Hashim Amla - 611 runs at 55.54 - is the only South Africa batsman to have scored more runs in 2016.Among de Kocks knocks was a maiden hundred in Centurion and five successive scores of fifty or more, including this century. His consistency has cemented him in the Test XI and comparisons with the best are mushrooming. The most notable one is with Adam Gilchrist, and now that de Kock has scored a second Test century, on Gilchrists birthday and at the same ground where the former Australia wicketkeeper scored his maiden hundred, those could continue. He maintains its not something he is trying to do.I dont try and be like him. Thats just the way I play. I dont see myself being like him. I just see the ball, hit the ball. I have my own game plan. Some days, I can get off to a good start and keep a good momentum. Some days, I have to grind it out, de Kock said.On other days, Bavuma does the grinding. He has been spoken of as a batsman similar to Gus Logie, partly because of his height, mostly because of his fight. By lunch, Bavuma had faced 201 deliveries. Australias entire first innings lasted only 197.With Bavuma and de Kock coming of age, South Africa could have a few selection headaches when a fit AB de Villiers returns to the XI. One possibility is for de Kock to move to the top-two, especially if Stephen Cook keeps misfiring. but with concerns surrounding workload, it may not happen. Another solution is to leave Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy to fight it out, but with du Plessis making a strong case to stay on as captain, that may also prove tricky. For now, its a problem South Africa wont mind having. ' ' '