“I’m happy I was able to one against Australia,” said Bavuma

The fact that Temba Bavuma was even in a position to consider a declaration was the result of his own monumental effort, which he will hope his bowlers can match over the remaining two days of the second Test at St George’s Park.

As it stands, the returning Kagiso Rabada got one wicket for Bavuma - with Nic Maddinson nicking the fourth ball of the Australian innings to Simon Harmer at third slip. While it may gnaw at the back of viewers’ minds that an earlier declaration may have created an opportunity for Rabada to bowl more than just one over, because of the bad light, Bavuma wasn’t going to be too greedy.

“If we’re going to get on the right side of the result, we’re going to have to spend the majority of the next two days out there on the field,” he said.

“There’s still something in the wicket, especially with that new ball. So I think it’s going to be, as tough for their batters as it was for us.”

“If we can get the ball in the right place for a considerable amount of time, anything can happen. Hopefully on day five, the spin comes into play as well. Simon can be a lot more of a threat, but yeah, I mean, we obviously want to go for the win and we’ll do as much as we can to bring that to life.”

That Bavuma can even contemplate winning this match after his side was 20/2, then 40/4 and 110/6, is down to one of the great innings of his career and certainly among the best Test knocks seen on South African soil.

“Obviously the one at Newlands, will always kind of be there at the top for a lot of reasons,” Bavuma replied to a question about whether his career-best 179 on Tuesday, was better than his maiden century at Newlands in 2016.

“I’m happy that I was able to get one against Australia. The one thing, just from a personal point of view, is the fact that I was able to get the team out of a tough situation. But then from a personal point of view, to go on to get a big hundred, that’s obviously something that’s been kind of a thorn in my batting career. So it was nice to mentally get over that.”

This current Australian attack is arguably better than England’s 11 years ago, despite the presence then of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. All four Australian frontline seamers playing at St George’s Park are currently ranked in the top 10 by the ICC.

Bavuma also engaged in a captivating battle with his opposite number Pat Cummins. “I guess that was fun, for everyone watching,” said Bavuma.

“They force you to bring out your A-game, to play at your best, and I think for us as South Africans, we look for those types of opportunities to get in the fight. We don’t want to back away or anything like that, and it just makes it much more of a battle.”

Partnerships of 132 for the seventh wicket and a record 183 for the eighth with Marco Jansen (85) and Simon Harmer (82) respectively, relieved a lot of the pressure on Bavuma’s shoulders, during the third afternoon.

“Marco took the guys on and he was able to find the middle of the bat and the gaps for a considerable amount of time. Simon applied himself. He was very unlucky not to get close to that three figure mark. ”

“But I think you can appreciate how the guys stuck in. They put a heavy price on their wicket. Part of our plan was to keep (Australia) in the field for as long as we can and I think that paid off, looking at us being able to get that wicket there at the end.”