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Cape Town - When Temba Bavuma was 8* on Tuesday, he inside edged Ben Stokes for four with the ball only just missing the stumps.
It was one of the only false strokes in the South African No 6's innings as he carded his maiden Test century at Newlands, and Stokes was furious.
England's first innings batting hero was caught on camera walking up to Bavuma and mouthing some harsh words the batsman's way as the ball raced towards the boundary.
But after that moment Bavuma was out of sight as he raced to his 50 off just 52 balls before becoming the first black African to score a century for the Proteas.
And, according to the 25-year-old, the Stokes niggle actually worked in his favour.
"He’s a tough competitor. I haven’t played a lot against him but especially from what I saw today (Tuesday) he’s a tough competitor … an honest man," Bavuma said of his fiery-headed opponent.
"He did come hard, everything in the spirit of the game, and then afterwards he was man enough to come and say ‘congratulations’.
"That’s something you can respect. Some of things he said I couldn’t really hear … I think the more he kept speaking it fired me up a bit more to knuckle down and stay focused on the task at hand."
England assistant coach Paul Farbrace agreed that there was nothing in the niggle between Stokes and Bavuma.
"I think, if you’ve watched over the nine days we’ve had, the spirit between the two teams has been fantastic," said Farbrace.
"There is a very good rapport between the players, the management and the coaches. When you’ve been in the field for 200 overs, you might have the odd bit of frustration … but I don’t think it’s anything that has crossed the line.
"Ben was the first person to run after him when he was walking off to shake his hand and tell him how well he played. And I think that’s what you want to see … Test match cricket played in the right way."
