South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said he enjoyed battling against adversity as he scored 179 on Tuesday (October 20, 2026) to turn around ​his side’s fortunes in the second test against Australia and also quell some of his ‌own mental demons.

The captain produced a defiant display and showcased his ​batting skills as South Africa recovered from a precarious 110-6 in ⁠the morning session on the third day to declare on 425-9 before taking an Australian wicket prior to stumps, an emphatic response to their heavy defeat in last week’s first ‌test.

The 36-year-old Bavuma had been forced to the crease with the hosts on 12-2 on Sunday’s rain-restricted opening day, when only an ‌hour's play was possible, and had to resume his innings on Monday ‌as ⁠the ball moved around after the wet weather finally relented. South ⁠Africa slumped to 97-5 by the close of the second day.

“I walked into a tricky situation,” he told reporters. “I think everything was in the bowlers’ favour: the conditions overhead, the wicket itself. We’d just lost two early wickets, but ‌ordinarily I’ve found myself in those situations quite many times and I guess it seems to bring out the best in me."

The sun appeared on Tuesday after two rain-affected days, and the pitch flattened out, offering ‌the batters considerably more assistance, although Bavuma insisted conditions were not ​as easy as they might have seemed.

Dealing with Austrailia’s quality attack

“With the quality of the bowling attack, they're still able to put ⁠you under pressure, even when the ball is slightly softer and older.

“I think from a mindset point of view, for me, nothing really changed. I was always ‌just trying to be as tight as I could and try to hit the ball as straight as I could.

“The one thing was being able to get the team out of a tough situation. But then from a personal point of view, to go on to getting a big 100, that's obviously something that's been a thorn in my side throughout my career. So it was nice ‌to get over that mental hurdle,” he added.

Bavuma, who has overcome a long-standing elbow injury, ​not only surpassed his previous highest test score but featured in two record partnerships.

He added 132 with Marco Jansen, who scored 85, to ⁠set a South African seventh-wicket record at St George’s Park, before putting on a ⁠national-record 183 for the eighth wicket with number nine Simon Harmer, who made a test career-best 82.

“They put a heavy price on their ‌wickets and part of our plan was to keep Australia in the field for as long as we could. It all went according to plan,” ​Bavuma added as Australia will resume at 3–1 at the start of day four.