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Former India allrounder comes in with plenty of coaching experience in international and franchise cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2025

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have signed former India allrounder S Sriram as their assistant bowling coach ahead of IPL 2025. At CSK, Sriram joins a coaching contingent led by Stephen Fleming (head coach), Mike Hussey (batting coach), and Eric Simons (bowling consultant).Sriram brings with him a wealth of coaching experience at various levels. He effectively replaces Dwayne Bravo at CSK, with the latter having joined defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders as mentor.He was Australia’s assistant coach from 2016 to 2022, a role he left to focus on his assignment with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). In August 2022, Sriram was also appointed Bangladesh’s T20 consultant ahead of the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup. In September 2023, he joined Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as assistant coach for IPL 2024, and also returned to Bangladesh – this time as technical consultant – before the ODI World Cup.Sriram has also worked as assistant coach at Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals).CSK’s squad for IPL 2025 includes R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Gopal and Noor Ahmad as frontline spinners, with Deepak Hooda and Rachin Ravindra as spin-bowling allrounders.CSK missed qualifying for the playoffs last year as they finished fifth with seven wins and as many defeats in the 14 group matches. Although they were level on 14 points with fourth-placed RCB, CSK’s inferior net run-rate meant they fell just short of making it to the final four.IPL 2025 begins on March 22 with defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on RCB in Kolkata, and CSK play Mumbai Indians (MI) the following evening at home in their first match.

Crystal Palace are in the market for attackers this summer and have now received a reply to a bid for a freescoring star who could add another layer across the front four positions, according to reports.

Crystal Palace move on after stalemate with Chelsea

Despite the odds being stacked in Chelsea’s favour, Crystal Palace emerged with a deserved goalless draw at Stamford Bridge over the weekend and will feel a little unfortunate not to have claimed all three points amid Eberechi Eze’s disallowed free-kick.

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Nevertheless, getting off the mark in the Premier League standings will come as a relief to Oliver Glasner, who delivered praise to his side and their core members despite speculation over the future of several first-team stars.

He told Sky Sports: “The 15, 16 players who had the most minutes last year are still here. There are a lot of rumours about Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi but they were 100 per cent with this group in Crystal Palace and they have proved that in a big way.”

Without doubt, transfer activity will be what fans want to see at Selhurst Park. Contact has been initiated to sign Arsenal academy graduate Dan Casey, albeit he is unlikely to be an immediate fixture for the Eagles’ if he does cross the London divide.

In a separate sequence of potential events, Jakub Kiwior could join Crystal Palace if Eze moves to Arsenal, though a swap deal scenario would have to occur in order for both players to head in separate directions.

Glasner has somewhat shot down Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in the England international, and the Eagles boss could now be about to open his own transfer chequebook as the FA Cup holders make inroads on the market.

Crystal Palace could return for Christos Tzolis after bid rejected

According to reports in Belgium via Sport Witness, Crystal Palace have seen a £27.6 million bid turned down for Club Brugge winger Christos Tzolis as they look to beef up their forward line.

Regardless, the Eagles could return with another offer, albeit the Belgian giants have no intention of selling the Greece international as they are in a comfortable position to retain his services.

Crystal Palace want to sign £26m star from under nose of Nottingham Forest

The Eagles are keen to get one over their divisional rivals…

BySean Markus Clifford Aug 11, 2025

Labelled “excellent” by Stephen Kountourou, the 23-year-old delivered 21 goals and 16 assists across all competitions inside 56 appearances last term.

Continuing that theme, he has put up five goal contributions in seven 2025/26 matches and continues to be a major attacking threat off the left flank for club and country.

Crucially, Tzolis isn’t opposed to a move to the Premier League and if he decides to agitate for a move, Club Brugge may be forced into action, leaving Crystal Palace in a position to try and zone in to land their man.

Christian Pulisic may be ‘Captain America’ but it will be no big deal if he is not captain of America at the 2026 World Cup, says Brad Friedel.

AC Milan has skippered his country at timesLeadership roles to be filled before major tournamentPulisic committed after skipping Gold Cup dutyFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Given his standing in the global game, as a superstar of Serie A with AC Milan, Pulisic remains an obvious candidate to take on leadership duties with his country. He may not be the loudest, as a reserved character, but can still inspire others with his actions.

AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Armbands have been passed in his direction at times – including at major tournaments, such as the 2024 Copa America – but there are plenty of others ready to lead the USMNT out of the tunnel.

DID YOU KNOW?

Pulisic did skip Gold Cup duty in 2025, which attracted criticism from some, but said absence is not considered to have done his captaincy claims any harm – with Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching team looking for the 26-year-old to contribute in multiple departments.

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GettyWHAT FRIEDEL SAID

Quizzed on whether Pulisic is in the skipper picture less than a year out from a home World Cup, former USMNT goalkeeper Friedel – speaking in association with legalnibukmacherzy.pl – told GOAL: “I’m not in the camp so I’m not sure if that’s who Mauricio wants as a leader. I know Mauricio really well and I know what he’ll want – he’ll want on the field to have 11 leaders.

“If you look at body language and the way Christian played against Japan, he played really well. He was quick, he caused a lot of issues. Whatever went on during that Gold Cup time and all around it, it does not look like it affected him.

“Who Mauricio will name as the captain, I don’t know. I don’t think I would look into it too much if Christian isn’t named captain. Naming a captain is different because there are a lot of off-field scenarios that go on with that. Christian is a player I don’t know well personally – I understand he’s quiet, so I don’t know if that will happen.

“I look at body language a lot with how players are after things get put in the press. What I saw from Christian was really positive. There has been a lot of negative stuff out and about, so it seems to me like things are pretty good.”

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers recently revealed that the Scottish Premiership champions need to add more goals to their team during the summer transfer window.

When asked about what the Hoops need to do before the start of September, the manager said: “I think it’s bringing goals to the squad. Especially when you score four goals, it seems like you’re okay. But we lost an important player in Kyogo [Furuhashi] in January. He brought us a lot of goals. We lost Nicolas Kuhn. He brought us a lot of goals. Matt O’Riley even last summer.

Ligue 1 side Rennes swooped in to sign Kyogo Furuhashi from the Scottish giants for a reported fee of £10m in January, ending a goal-laden time for the striker at Parkhead.

Celtic hit the jackpot with Kyogo Furuhashi

Ange Postecoglou signed the centre-forward from Vissel Kobe in the summer of 2021, and it is safe to say that it was an incredibly successful move for all parties involved.

Kyogo ended his Celtic career with a return of 85 goals and 15 assists in 165 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants, which shows that he was prolific throughout his time at the club.

His best season at Parkhead, by far, was when he plundered 34 goals in the 2022/23 campaign for Postecoglou, though, as the Japan international was a goal machine that year.

Whilst it is unrealistic to expect Celtic to find a new forward who can score 34 goals in one season, Rodgers could finally replace Kyogo by signing Federico Chiesa on loan from Liverpool, as the club are reportedly one of the teams chasing a loan deal for the attacker.

Why Celtic should sign Federico Chiesa

If the Hoops can convince the Italy international to make the move to Parkhead on loan, the £150k-per-week star could be a high-quality addition to the squad.

Chiesa primarily plays as a winger but he has also started 87 career club games as a second striker or as a centre-forward, which suggests that he could play through the middle for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

The Italian forward has scored 66 goals for Juventus and Fiorentina, whilst he has also scored seven goals for his country. This speaks to his pedigree and shows the kind of quality that the Hoops would be bringing in.

Chiesa only played 14 times, scoring twice, in all competitions for Liverpool last season, but his form in the 2023/24 campaign for Juventus shows that he has the quality to be a fantastic signing for Celtic.

23/24 Serie A

Federico Chiesa

Starts

25

xG

6.43

Goals

9

Big chances created

12

xA

5.58

Assists

2

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the Italian forward, who can play wide or centrally, provided a big threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals in one of Europe’s major leagues.

The 27-year-old star, who was once dubbed “unplayable” by reporter Carlo Garganese, was also incredibly efficient in front of goal, overperforming his xG by almost three goals.

Whereas, Kyogo only scored 10 goals from 14.14 xG in the first half of last season’s Premiership campaign. Chiesa, based on his form for Juventus, could be far more efficient with the chances that come his way if Rodgers provided him with an opportunity to play regularly.

The Italian dynamo is a clinical finisher and creative force who can offer quality out wide or through the middle as a dynamic forward option, who is already proven at a higher level of football than the Premiership.

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Therefore, Celtic should be pushing to win the race for Chiesa’s services as he is a clinical forward who could provide a cutting edge to the team’s attack as a Kyogo replacement this summer.

India fast bowler hasn’t set a timeline for his return from ankle injury

PTI14-Sep-2024

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami wants to ensure that he is fully fit before he returns to international cricket.Shami, 34, last played in the 2023 ODI World Cup final and has since been sidelined by an ankle injury for which he underwent surgery earlier this year. (I am working hard to make a comeback soon because I know I have been out of action for quite some time),” Shami said at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) annual awards ceremony. “However, I want to ensure there is no discomfort when I return. I’ve to work on my fitness, so that there is no discomfort.”Related

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“The stronger I return, the better it is for me. I don’t want to rush and risk getting injured again, be it against Bangladesh, New Zealand or the Australia series. I’ve already started bowling, but I won’t take any chances until I am 100% fit.”PTI had reported last month that Shami, who is undergoing rehabilitation, is likely to make a comeback to competitive cricket for his domestic side Bengal in the Ranji Trophy, and a potential international appearance later in one of the Test matches against New Zealand.It is understood that Shami will play either one or two of Bengal’s Ranji Trophy matches against UP (October 11) and Bihar (October 18).Shami also hinted at the possibility of playing domestic cricket before making his international return.”If I need to play domestic cricket to test my fitness, I will,” Shami said. “What matters most is that I am fully ready for whatever comes next, regardless of the opposition or format.”Shami is expected to be a key figure in India’s preparations for the upcoming five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.”Favourites (We are the favourites, they should be worried),” Shami said.

Sam Hain 93, Jacob Bethell 50 take match to final over, but Bears fall short by 11 runs

ECB Reporters Network18-Jul-2024Saif Zaib hit a blistering 86 off just 41 balls with eight fours and six sixes to set up a thrilling Northamptonshire Steelbacks victory over Birmingham Bears by 11 runs and secure their first Vitality Blast quarter-final spot in four years.Zaib shared a partnership of 72 in almost seven overs with Ravi Bopara (19) to propel Northamptonshire to a formidable total of 197 for 6.Steelbacks skipper David Willey struck immediately in the run chase taking two wickets in the opening over, including Moeen Ali first ball, as the Bears slumped to 11 for 3.But a magnificent 93 from Sam Hain off just 60 balls with 10 fours and three sixes took the match into the final over with the Bears still very much in the hunt.Hain shared a partnership of 92 in nearly 10 overs with Jacob Bethell, who hit 50 off 31 balls as the visitors bounced back from the early fall of wickets.Despite some more big hitting from Hain and George Garton at the close, they fell short, although they can draw consolation from having already booked their quarter-final spot.Earlier Garton struck with the third ball of the match, Ricardo Vasconcelos flicking one off his hip straight to Craig Miles at backward square.Warwickshire’s bowlers put the squeeze on, the only early boundaries coming from leg byes before Willey punched through cover and Northamptonshire ended the powerplay on 40 for 1.Willey fell soon after though, heaving one from Danny Briggs to Miles who took an excellent tumbling catch on the deep midwicket boundary.Zaib opened his account with three consecutive late cuts for four off Miles to take Northamptonshire past 50 in the eighth over before stroking Briggs expertly over extra cover for six. But when Jake Lintott nipped in to remove Matt Breetzke for 21, the Steelbacks had made only 78 for 3 after 10 overs.It proved a solid foundation though with Bopara soon into his work cutting Moeen for consecutive boundaries. Runs continued to flow as Zaib smashed Briggs over deep cover for another maximum. He plundered 18 runs off the next over from Lintott, with three fours and an outrageous hook shot over fine leg, bringing up his half-century off just 26 balls along the way.The Bears finally broke through when Bopara chipped Briggs to deep cover and then ended Zaib’s bombardment in the next over when he reached for one from Miles, the ball flying off the top-edge to Hain at mid-off.Ashton Agar’s stay was brief, departing immediately after taking one huge six off Dan Mousley, Moeen taking a leaping one-handed catch behind square.Lewis McManus continued his excellent Vitality Blast form, pulling Zak Foulkes for six and hitting three fours, while Gus Miller nonchalantly flicked Foulkes for another maximum.Willey struck immediately with the ball collecting the wickets of Moeen and Mousley, both caught behind in the opening over of the run chase.Next over, Ben Sanderson struggled to control the swing, conceding six runs in wides but redeemed himself when Alex Davies chopped on to a ball outside off-stump.Hain and Bethell though were quickly into their stride, Hain taking two boundaries off one Sanderson over. Bethell meanwhile was soon clearing the ropes, depositing White over the food stalls for six and also sending Bopara’s first delivery out of the ground.Agar bowled tidily but conceded six when Bethell struck him down the ground with Birmingham reaching 100 in the twelfth over shortly afterwards.It took a stunning diving catch from White behind square to account for Bethell in Bopara’s second over. Three balls later Chris Benjamin swept Agar, picking out Vasconcelos on the deep square leg boundary.Hain was still motoring though and despite Birmingham needing 73 off the last five overs at a rate of 14.6, he continued to find the boundary, finding a willing partner in Garton (29).Needing 39 off the last two overs, Hain swotted a straight ball from Willey down the ground for six and the visitors started the final over bowled by White, with 25 still required. Garton took three off the first two deliveries, leaving Hain with three sixes and one boundary to win.He pulled White for six before taking a boundary. White put down a caught and bowled chance off the next ball but Hain was caught behind off the final delivery.During the interval Northampton Saints took to the outfield to show off the Premiership trophy they lifted at Twickenham last month.

Celtic players are slowly starting to filter back in for pre-season, and they could be joined by yet another new addition sooner rather than later, according to reports.

Celtic's transfer state of play with pre-season already underway

Several Celtic stars were spotted being put through their paces at Lennoxtown earlier this week, and it is anticipated that the bulk of the main group will join before long, but who could accompany them from elsewhere over the coming weeks?

Kieran Tierney, Ross Doohan and Benjamin Nygren have already been announced. Fulham youngster Callum Osmand is set to follow the trio to Celtic and has already been spotted at their training base before being officially confirmed as a new asset.

With Greg Taylor out of contract and set to depart, Djurgarden left-back Keita Kosugi is the latest name on the Bhoys’ radar as they plot a replacement for the Scotland international.

Despite some swift moves to bolster their pool of talent, Chris Sutton believes Celtic should be doing more in the transfer market with the Champions League qualifiers around the corner.

He explained: “Unless Celtic are going to start paying silly money, I’d imagine they may have to wait, perhaps even until the end of the window, for some of the key targets.

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“But it still feels a little lacking to me at this precise point of proceedings and, at the very least, Rodgers will surely want the majority in his squad for the start of the domestic season.”

Managers will never be content with that they’ve got, there will always be an appetite for as many useful options as possible to offer cover across the pitch.

Either way, Sutton’s wish could now have been granted as Celtic are now on the brink of bringing in a talented central defender.

Celtic set to land Hayato Inamura with medical scheduled

According to Sponichi, Celtic are set to land defender Hayato Inamura from Albirex Niigata, and he will travel to Europe to undergo a medical before signing on the dotted line at Parkhead.

The 23-year-old took on his final fixture in current club colours against Machida Zelvia this weekend, and is set to become the ninth Japanese player to join the Hoops once his move is ratified.

Hayato Inamura’s record at Albirex Niigata

Appearances

35

Goals

1

Assists

2

Predominantly a central defender, Inamura is also capable of featuring at left-back and has two years left on his current deal at the Denka Big Swan Stadium. He is considered an impressive talent back home, evidenced by the fact he shares an agent with two of Japan’s top stars in Europe – £20m Arsenal man Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mainz star Kaishū Sano.

Enjoying a productive J League campaign, the Tokyo-born man has won 63 duels and 75% of his tackles and would likely arrive in Glasgow for a nominal fee, although the specifics on that front haven’t yet been confirmed.

Either way, Celtic appear primed to venture back into a market that has been a happy hunting ground in recent years, so there is every chance Inamura will become a shrewd addition with plenty of potential to develop.

Chelsea reached the final of the Conference League courtesy of a 5-1 aggregate victory over Swedish side Djurgarden in midweek.

Ending the season with a trophy could be a catalyst for the Blues to improve even further in 2025/26.

Enzo Maresca will be determined to succeed, but even more importantly, is the fact that he has blooded several youngsters into the team, notably Tyrique George.

With the summer transfer window opening in a few weeks, might the Italian be aiming to sign another talented forward?

Chelsea plot move for Borussia Dortmund starlet

According to reports, the Blues have earmarked Dortmund starlet Jamie Bynoe-Gittens as a player under serious consideration this summer.

The Stamford Bridge side are currently in contact with the Englishman regarding a potential deal and if they secure Champions League qualification, it could help their cause massively.

Previously valued at €100m (£85m), Gittens’ asking price has now dropped to ‘just’ €50m (£42m) as he doesn’t fit the system of Niko Kovač, which could open the door for Chelsea to make their move.

If they did bring the youngster to London, they would be signing one of the most talented wingers in Germany.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

He is certainly a bigger talent than George. That’s for sure.

Why Chelsea must sign Jamie Gittens

Since making his senior debut for the Blues earlier this season, the 19-year-old has now racked up 23 appearances in all competitions.

Not one to be fazed by performing at the highest level, the teenager has scored twice and chipped in with five assists, helping the club reach yet another European final.

He will only continue to get better, especially if Maresca keeps utilising him in this Chelsea squad. Signing Gittens, however, would perhaps take the club to the next level.

Making his debut for Dortmund all the way back during the 2021/22 season, Gittens has made over 100 appearances for the club. A total of 31 goal contributions have been recorded in this time as he has emerged as a player to watch out for in the coming years.

Hailed as a “wonderkid” by Statman Dave in November 2023, Gittens has the talent to follow in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham, who both made huge moves abroad after shining in Germany.

Despite his tender years, he is already playing like an experienced winger. Indeed, when compared to positional peers, Gittens currently ranks in the top 8% for progressive carries (5.55) and in the top 1% for successful take-ons (3.62) per 90 over the previous 365 days.

This ability to advance the ball into dangerous areas while being able to beat his marker could give Maresca something extra in the final third next season.

George’s emergence from academy starlet to first-team regular shows that the club aren’t going to be totally reliant on the transfer market.

But when a talent like Gittens is available, it would be foolish not to try and sign him. Especially for a fee of £42m.

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He is finally reaping the rewards for his consistency and fitness but can he sustain this intensity for longer formats for India?

Sidharth Monga10-Apr-20251:36

What’s working for Prasidh Krishna this season?

Gujarat Titans (GT) have shown themselves to be a pretty ruthless and unemotional side.Washington Sundar finally got a chance to play – the Impact Player rule has ruined it for even slightly imperfect allrounders – in the last match, put in a match-winning innings that had commentators and experts calling him too good to be left out, but when GT returned to a red-soil pitch at home, they left him out. They didn’t get carried away. They trusted M Shahrukh Khan, a specialist batter, to do the job. They also saw the conditions called for an extra fast bowler. They didn’t try to accommodate Washington.R Sai Kishore was GT’s second-highest wicket-taker before this match. “Probably the best spinner in the tournament so far,” according to their mentor Parthiv Patel. He didn’t get to bowl until this match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) was practically over as a contest.Related

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This is a squad that has lost Kagiso Rabada after three games, and yet they seem to be able to field different attacks for different conditions almost effortlessly. They go to Bengaluru where new-ball movement can be crucial, they add Arshad Khan. They see the one sluggish track in Hyderabad being used, and they bring in Washington. They roll out the slow and low black-soil pitch at home, they go for taller bowlers. On red soil, back comes Arshad. And Shubman Gill almost always has six nearly genuine bowlers at his disposal.However, apart from the resurgent Mohammed Siraj and the all-time-great Rashid Khan, there has been one constant in the GT side that has made this versatility and ruthlessness possible. He is tall, finally fit and quick, he goes by Skiddy on Instagram and with his team-mates, but he is anything but. This version of Prasidh Krishna is the one that India hoped for when they backed him.

The reaction Prasidh is getting from the pitch is a sight for sore eyes. The bounce is steep and unbecoming of the lengths he is bowling, drawing poor connections from the batters

Without taking anything away from Siraj, he does get the new ball to play with. Prasidh is playing the other role of making something out of nothing when the movement has died, and you need some other point of difference. He has now had four straight matches in which he has gone under seven an over. He has taken wickets in each of these games.Nothing quite sums up Prasidh’s impact more than GT’s last two home games. Against Mumbai Indians (MI), they played on the black-soil pitch because MI are used to the red soil at Wankhede and are built for quick and bouncy surfaces. His figures: 4-0-18-2. Against RR, GT went back to the pace and bounce of red soil. His figures: 4-0-24-3.A lot of top-level cricket is about feeling good about your body and executing your plans well, but don’t underestimate the value of knowing what to do in different conditions. In these two games, Prasidh has shown the awareness of his own game that only comes with experience. On the slower, grippier surface, Prasidh went into the surface more and bowled more slower balls. Both his wickets in that match came off slower balls. Every fourth ball he delivered in that game was a slower one.Prasidh Krishna enjoyed a productive outing against his old team, Rajasthan Royals•IPLOn the quicker pitch, not only did Prasidh crank up the pace, he also didn’t bother with the slower balls. He tried just one against RR as against seven against MI. Six balls went above 145kph and 14 above 140kph against RR, as against just one and eight against MI. Against MI, he went short of a good length 15 times, against RR only 12.Reaping the rewards for his consistency and fitness, Prasidh has probably been the best fast bowler outside the powerplay in this IPL so far. Even if it is over a period of four overs, the reaction Prasidh is getting from the pitch is a sight for sore eyes. The bounce is steep and unbecoming of the lengths he is bowling, drawing poor connections from the batters. The pace is up perhaps because he feels good about his physical fitness.Too often, India have been edged out of Test matches because their bowlers are shorter and skiddier, thus extracting less from the surfaces in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. India’s next big Test tour is in England, two months away. Can Prasidh sustain this consistency and intensity for longer formats?

He bagged a pair in his first match after taking over the Test captaincy, but has bounced back emphatically

Firdose Moonda10-Mar-2023Temba Bavuma is used to handling crises.”I always find myself in situations where I am coming in at No.5 or 6, and it’s 20 for 4 or 10 for 2 or whatever it is, and you really have to try to soak in the pressure,” he said.So when he walked out to bat with South Africa 8 for 2, the lead just 77, and the opposition eyeing a middle order that is prone to collapses, he was not panicking. “You just have to try to absorb and when the opportunity comes, try and release. I think I’ve done that fairly well in my career, albeit I didn’t have any big scores to back it up. Walking in that situation, is something that mentally I am accustomed to. My games also leans towards that.”Bavuma left six of his first eight deliveries, giving himself time to assess an atypical Wanderers surface, and had only scored 11 off his first 38 balls, which included some that kicked up off a length and others that stayed a touch low. He watched Aiden Markram nick one that he was forced to play at, and Ryan Rickelton reach for one he could have left, and knew that once the ball softened and the bowlers tired, variable bounce would be the biggest challenge.When his fifty came up, off 107 balls, it looked like Bavuma would run out of partners before the idea of a century became real. When Heinrich Klaasen top-edged a pull, the prospect of another below-par innings and unfinished business for Bavuma loomed.Enter Wiaan Mulder. “I said to him, he’s got nothing to prove. He’s done it before for the Lions, he’s done it at county level, now it’s just an opportunity for him to do what he’s been selected to do,” Bavuma said. “Maybe that that calmed him down. We have good synergy that also obviously would have helped him. I guess for us it was just trying to build that partnership. In doing that, that took the pressure off him and it was about the team.”Bavuma was also talking about himself. He was too concerned with getting the team into a position where they had batted West Indies out of the match than his own score. “My mindset was always just to stick to what I was doing. A hundred wasn’t the target. It wasn’t the objective. The objective was really to get to the end of day’s play.”The prospect of a century only became real once he entered the nineties with a cut shot off Roach that brought a small Friday afternoon crowd to life. All 2378 of them lived every ball from that point on. They slow-capped every delivery and cheered every run with increasing volume, which peaked with the four overthrows that took him a shot away from the moment people have been waiting for since Bavuma’s first Test century in 2016. “I was obviously quite happy that I got an extra four runs,” Bavuma said. “I went from 91 to 96 and that does make things mentally a bit easier.”Naturally, there were also some nerves. Since his first century at Newlands, Bavuma has never got closer than an unbeaten 95, so 96 was unfamiliar territory and he could feel things changing. “The energy started picking up, I guess in anticipation of the milestone. My emotions also started picking up and I just kind of went with it at that moment.”Temba Bavuma leaps to fend off a short ball during the course of his hundred•AFP/Getty ImagesHis 97th run was a quick single at the start of an Alzarri Joseph over that Mulder saw off. The impatience grew. The clap became a beat or two faster. The cries from the crowd sounded more desperate. “Come on Tembaaaaa,” became a plea and not a war cry.His 98th came from a flick through midwicket at the start of a Roston Chase. He got back on strike for the fourth delivery and whipped Chase again but only as far as the fielder and got another one.99. Mulder rotated strike again.99 and facing. Chase pulled out of his delivery stride. 99 and still facing. Bavuma advanced and defended into the offside.He and Mulder met in the middle for a long chat before Joseph’s next over. Mulder must have confirmed that he’d take a single as quickly as possible because that’s what he did. Then, they had another conversation, presumably with Mulder promising to run like his life depended on it if Bavuma thought a single was on. It turned out he wanted more than that. Joseph delivered a short ball asking to be cut but Bavuma slashed and missed. The Wanderers held its breath.Joseph had also overstepped, and he overcompensated with his extra ball by going too full. That was the delivery Bavuma had been waiting for. He cracked it over the covers and held the pose as the ball crossed the boundary. At the other end, Mulder whooped and swooped as though he had scored the century while Bavuma removed his helmet and raised his bat to the changeroom, to his father in the Long Room and his mother in the stands and then to every part of the ground. Eventually he turned to Mulder and they shared a bear hug. After seven years of relative run-scoring famine, Bavuma has finally been able to feast.Temba Bavuma: a pair in his first match as Test captain, and a century in the second•AFP/Getty Images”It’s been a long journey and a lot more downs than ups,” Bavuma said, maybe remembering that just four months ago, he returned from Australia unable to hold back tears and explain how South Africa had lost to Netherlands at the T20I World Cup. “I keep learning about myself every day in terms of the type of person and the type of cricketer that I am.”What we are now learning is that the usually sedate and serious Bavuma can also score runs at speed. Once he reached the hundred, he was obviously unshackled. He scored 71 runs off 81 balls and is now 29 away from a double century. For someone who had not scored a red-ball hundred at the Wanderers through a professional career based at this venue, that would be another crowning moment. “The guys are always teasing me about it (not scoring a hundred here). I can stick it to the guys in that one,” Bavuma said. “And as I said before the series, West Indies sentimentally means quite a lot so I am going to try to bat as long as I can. I’m not about to give my wicket away.”Bavuma is not the only one for whom this hundred is about more than the numbers. He is now the first black African captain from South Africa to score a century, seven years after becoming the first to score a Test hundred. The significance of it is not lost on Bavuma. “It’s about inspiring the next generation. Being a black Africa cricketer, it also allows other young black African batters to really dream they can also come and play for the Proteas and have their names entrenched in the history books.”Last week, Bavuma made history as one of only four captains to register a pair on their leadership debut and immediately questions were asked about how the leadership would affect his batting. His coach, Shukri Conrad, was asked that too and dead-batted the question saying that Bavuma was not the only player to get a pair. Conrad was the one who selected Bavuma as Test captain and Bavuma has acknowledged feeling “fully backed,” by his coach. “I’m learning a lot from him in terms of the language that he speaks and also the challenging conversations that we have. Before the game, he challenged me. He asked some really tough questions. One of them was that just because I’m captain, who says I’m not going to score two ducks?”Ask the Bavuma of 2014, who made his Test debut against West Indies at St George’s Park, what he thinks of the Bavuma of 2023, and he would be “very proud,” according to the man himself. “After everything that has happened I’m still managing to keep my head up, keep afloat and keep finding a way to move forward.”