OPINION | Temba and Shai: The Hopes of their nations handled pressure with quality knocks

In East London

Opposing captains Temba Bavuma and Shai Hope had different batting methodologies that played out in East London on Saturday that concealed, yet subtly revealed, the pressure tight-rope they walk.

In one corner, there was Hope, who in his capacity as the West Indian ODI skipper, is tasked with trying to keep a 50-over side that's been disinterested in keeping the format afloat.

In South Africa's green corner, there was Bavuma, who is the face of SA's stumbling World Cup qualification campaign that'll reach a crescendo at the end of the month.

The two sides haven't crossed paths on the road to India.

READ | Bavuma rues Proteas' middle order batting collapse: 'It's criminal in a run chase'

Indeed, Saturday's meeting was the first full 50-over engagement between the sides since 2016.

It speaks to the paucity of meetings between SA and the Windies, a far cry from the busy 1990s, where the only two years the teams didn't meet were 1994 and 1995.

It also becomes increasingly likely that the teams may not meet at this year's World Cup in India, even though the qualification process still needs to be completed.

If anything, Hope and Bavuma have significant pressures they need to deal with when one considers their precarious positions in world cricket.

However, they did not show it during their contrastingly thrilling 100s that were central to the outcome of Saturday's high-scoring encounter.

Hope, in particular, comes across as the only batter in his team who can manage an ODI innings successfully without having to resort to regular boundary-hitting.

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Strike rotation, a facet that's missing from the West Indian ODI playbook, came