Proteas batsman Temba Bavuma has received full support from his coach amid a dry patch of runs.
The 32-year-old is in line to play his first Test after eight months when he features in the series opener against Australia at the Gabba on Saturday. His last test appearance was against Bangladesh in April this year.
Interim Proteas coach Malbongwe Maketa believes Bavuma's experience and ability to score runs in Australia will be a huge positive for the team.
"I am confident that (Bavuma) will do well here," said Maketa, viaย The Canberra Times.ย
"He has been here before and knows the conditions and intensity brought by the (Australian) players, the crowd and everything that comes with the package of playing in Australia."
Bavuma picked up an elbow injury while practising in a nets session and missed his side's tour of England, while he also didn't feature in the first innings of the practice game between CA XI and Proteas.
However, he played decent in the second innings of the practice game to score 28 off 92 balls.
Bavuma showed excellent performances when he last toured in 2016-17. He went on to score 162 runs in five innings. The middle-order batter went on to save the Perth and Hobart Tests with his valiant innings of 51 and 74 respectively, helping the Proteas win the series down under.
"Temba was given an extended break after the World Cup, and he has been batting really well since he joined the squad," Maketa added.
"Unfortunately he couldn't bat in the first innings (at Allan Border Field). We pushed him a bit hard regarding the volume of work he had to do once we got here.
"He has been our best batter, him and Dean (Elgar), consistency-wise and experience-wise.
"He has been our best-performing batter leading up to this tour so he is a very important member of the batting lineup."
The 51-test veteran is hoping be in top shape for continuous Test cricket over the next few months.
The three-Test match series between South Africa and Australia will kick off on December 17 at the Gabba.
