A shroud of suspense descended on St George's Park as Temba Bavuma spent seven overs in the 90s, mostly at the non-striker's end, shadow-batting. He seemed to be visualising the moment the crowd was too tense to hope for, especially as South Africa were 110 for 6 earlier in the day.
On the old stand, the band rumbled into action, slow-clap style, careful not to make too much music and risk breaking the captain's concentration. On the grass banks, some rocked back and forth on their camper chairs; others stood, then sat, then stood again. Every few balls, one man let out a scream, "Come on, Temba!" He was met with a silence that seemed to be begging him not to touch the money.
Bavuma shut it all out and worked his way to 99. Then, in the distance, a South African Airways plane took off. Bavuma glanced over his right shoulder, for the briefest of seconds. Time for take off? Yes please!
Pat Cummins pitched it short, Bavuma pulled, ball found boundary and the veil lifted.
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As Bavuma did his signature wind-up and golf swing celebration, the trumpets blew, the applause joined in and the flight was well on its way to wherever it was headed. In the crowd, Bavuma's wife, Phila, held their three-year-old son Lihle, who hid his face as his mother beamed. At the other end of the pitch, Simon Harmer whooped on his own, at a distance respectful enough to let Bavuma soak in the moment of scoring his toughest century on the same ground he made his Test debut at, 12 years ago.
Harmer and Marco Jansen's role, in what were very likely match-saving partnerships, cannot be underestimated but the way Bavuma pulled his team back from the brink could be defining for him and his era. It was not just a Test hundred as captain of the World Test Champions against perennial challengers for the title with the best attack in the game; it was a daddy hundred, a career-best, with his team 1-0 down in the series and which started in conditions which Bavuma later described as having "everything in the bowler's favour".
It's worth remembering Bavuma started batting on Sunday, after a two-hour delay between the toss and the first ball and a subsequent hour interruption, and with South Africa 12 for 2, Scott Boland on a hat-trick and heavy cloud hanging in the air. He inside-edged the first ball he faced onto his pads. He couldn't even seal off his own bubble entirely because at the other end was debutant Marques Ackerman, who had scored one run off the toughest 24 balls he faced in his career. There were conversations being had and plans being made but the major task was simply for Bavuma and Ackerman to survive. They did for 12.2 overs before the rain gave them some respite.
The next day the teams had to wait six hours before the scheduled start of play to get on to the field. They remained at their hotel until the early afternoon, which is better than being in the player and match officials area, where all they can do is play cards or read, but still enough time in limbo to get into your head. As soon as they resumed, they were back in the battle and Boland beat Bavuma with the first ball of the second day. He would have known then how switched on he needed to be.
When Ackerman and then Matthew Breetzke were dismissed cheaply, and his long-time domestic team-mate Ryan Rickelton joined him, the bubble started forming around Bavuma. Between balls, he would take strolls almost as far as square leg, shutting out the noise. At the non-striker's end, he'd practice his defence, over and over again.
Bavuma has never been a particularly quick run-scorer and with Rickelton looking to cement his place lower down the order, occupying time at the crease, rather than worrying about the amount of runs, was the goal. The pair spoke, but not much and only allowed themselves the slightest bit of congratulations when one of them unfurled a drive. Had their stand survived into the third day, it would have been pivotal to South Africa's hopes but Rickleton's dismissal to a wonder-catch heaped even more responsibility on Bavuma.
History has shown us that the more you give him, the more he wants. In 54 Tests before 2023, Bavuma scored 2797 Test runs at 34.53 with a solitary hundred to his name. His poor conversion rate was one of the biggest talking points around his selection. Since being made captain, apart from being undefeated before last week, he's averaged 54.36, with four centuries.
Bavuma admitted that he likes it tough because it "seems to bring out the best in me" as it allows him to play his natural game. "From an approach point of view, it wasn't any different. To be honest, in terms of how I've always gone about it. I get myself stuck in."
That is how Bavuma played out most of the third day. There was no panic on his part when Wiaan Mulder was bounced out and he was left with the lower order with the score on just 110. He was happy for Jansen to take on the Australian attack as he continued to face a ball, walk away, gather his thoughts and come back to do it again.
When Jansen got to fifty off 43 balls, Bavuma was on 62 off 156. When Jansen was dismissed on 85, Bavuma was on 88 and had faced 213 balls. He wanted the rest to follow that example, not necessarily in terms of scoring rate but in terms of valuing their wickets. "You can appreciate how the guys stuck in. They put a heavy price on their wicket," he said.
None more than Bavuma. His defences were even more solid through the 90s, in anticipation of what he knew would come. He was aware of the band, and the way they tried to egg him on. "When you play here at St. George's, you definitely hear the band. It can fire you up," he said. "They kind of created a little bit of theatre when I got into the 90s, which probably got the better of me at a certain time. That's part of playing here at St. George's. You kind of use that to your benefit."
He was also aware of Harmer, who was brought back into the South African team for tours to the subcontinent last year and is used in a horses-for-courses role rather than a regular one, and whose words of congratulations were: "Well batted, Shorty!" Later, everyone would have been saying versions of that, including the opposition, against whom Bavuma had not scored a century before. Does that make it the best?
"I'm happy that I was able to get one against Australia," he said. "I haven't had time to kind of let it all sink in. Obviously the (first) one at Newlands will be top for a lot of reasons. But just from a personal point of view, the fact that I was able to get the team out of the tough situation and then to go on to get a big hundred, that's obviously something that's been a thorn in my batting career. It was nice to mentally get over that."
That is especially true after a poor Test in Durban, where Bavuma had returns of 3 and 1, and was out to an offspinner in both innings. Bavuma was ready to shoulder responsibility. Post Kingsmead, Bavuma was asked about his own performance and he acknowledged he "didn't contribute much" and would need to look into elements of his own technique. He wasn't just saying that.
In the build-up to the Gqeberha Test, Bavuma held long training sessions, focused on tinkering with his stance and on day one, when rain stopped play after 12.2 overs, Bavuma was in the indoor nets with performance analyst Baakier Abrahams. It turns out he was searching, not for a thing but a state.
"I've been struggling for rhythm since the start of the season, throughout the ODI series and even building up to the first Test. I guess that's a result of not having played for a while and then coming up against a quality attack like that. Me being in the nets was always trying to find that feeling," he said. "I don't know how else I could explain it. Not so much from a technical point of view, but just the feeling that I could hold on to and be able to compete out there in the middle."
Did he find it? "Throughout the innings, I kind of battled through it, found some fluency, and obviously found a game plan as well, which I stuck to. It's also quite nice to be able to be in the nets and hit balls. Over the last couple of years with my elbow, I haven't been able to do as much, so that was also quite nice."
And that is the other side to why this was so important. Bavuma has battled several injuries over the last few years, including a few hamstring niggles. He was also seen doing plenty of fitness drills through the build-up. All that paid off in the most handsome way possible, and for a man who carried so much - whether it's expectation or the side - Bavuma also seemed to allow himself to enjoy it.
After reaching the hundred, Bavuma played with more freedom and then we got to that time at the Gqeberha Test that can only be described as spiritual. The band plays the same refrain on repeat and the runs flow for the home side. It's where South African cricket shows off its soul.
With criticism of low crowds and a lack of care for the longest format continuing through this series, that period showed that you don't necessarily need record-breaking attendances to prove there is interest and that no one cares about South African Test cricket more than Bavuma.