South Africa had to make 'big call' on whether Bavuma should retire hurt

South Africa contemplated the need for captain Temba Bavuma to retire hurt on the third day at Lord's after he suffered a hamstring injury early in his second innings. But with the urging of Aiden Markram, they opted not to disrupt a partnership that went on to carry them to the brink of the World Test Championship title.

Bavuma was on 6, two overs before tea, when he pulled up with the hamstring injury which initially required lengthy treatment on the outfield before he made it through to the interval. He was clearly hampered when running between the wickets - which was one of the key factors the South Africa hierarchy discussed - but in the end, there were few alarms with the running, which even raised the question of whether Australia had pressurised Bavuma enough.

"We had to make a big call whether he continues to bat and how it will affect his strokeplay, how that might affect Aiden's rhythm," Ashwell Prince, South Africa's batting coach, said. "If twos are being turned into one [or] they can't run the twos or the threes. Both of them were adamant that Temba was going to continue. He wanted to continue.

"Aiden was adamant that the partnership is the key. Obviously, had [Tristan] Stubbs gone in, we would have still had Temba's wicket intact, but you start a new partnership. They were feeling pretty good and they wanted to continue.

"Aiden was well aware that he'll have to curb his intensity just in terms of running between the wickets to allow Temba to ease his way through it."

By the close, the two were still unbeaten together with a stand of 143, with Markram having brought up a masterful century, although there was a question mark over how Bavuma would pull up after the night's sleep and the body having cooled down. It was hard to see, however, a situation where South Africa's captain wouldn't emerge on the fourth morning.

"Temba is tough," Prince said. "Aiden has great respect for Temba. In fact, I think this team's greatest strength is the unity that they have in this camp… they are well aware that South Africa have had much greater individual players, but they've got something special going on in that dressing room, and that sort of helps them to drag each other along."

But with the task not quite finished, Prince was reluctant to be drawn into discussing the wider narrative of what could unfold for Bavuma on Saturday. "He's had to fight throughout his career, and this could be a defining moment for his career," he said. "I believe it's the biggest stage of in terms of Test cricket. Maybe I should answer the question after the game."