Dean Elgar Proteas v Bangladesh

SA Test captain Dean Elgar has defended his team against allegations of “unbearable sledging” in the first Durban Test against Bangladesh. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Dean Elgar denies excessive sledging allegations

Dean Elgar said the touring Bangladesh players need to “harden up” if they wanted to play the game at a high level.

Dean Elgar Proteas v Bangladesh

SA Test captain Dean Elgar has defended his team against allegations of “unbearable sledging” in the first Durban Test against Bangladesh. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

Proteas Test skipper Dean Elgar defended his team against allegations of “unbearable sledging” levelled by Bangladesh after their match in Durban.

Elgar said the touring Bangladesh players need to “harden up” if they wanted to play the game at a high level.

According to their skipper, the Proteas played the game hard but stopped short of swearing or using foul or abusive language towards their opponents.

Dean Elgar denies excessive sledging by Proteas

Bangladesh Cricket Board operations chief Jalal Yunus claimed they would make an official complaint to the International Cricket Council over what he described as biased umpiring and the “sledging” of the home team.

“I don’t think they are justified whatsoever,” said Dean Elgar. 

“We play the game hard (but) if anything we were just giving back what we were getting when we were batting.

“This is Test cricket. It’s a man’s environment when it comes to playing at this level and I intend still to play the game hard.

“We don’t swear or use foul language towards the Bangladesh batsmen because we still respect them. I think they need to harden up and maybe play the game at a level they’re not used to,” Elgar added.

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Proteas respect the badge says Dean Elgar

The Proteas captain said the message to his players was: “We do everything with dignity and we don’t throw our badge or our name away.

“I honestly didn’t see any bad sledging out there, even from their side. I just think this is Test cricket and we need to dry our eyes sometimes.”

The umpiring in Durban was in the spotlight with an unusually high number of 21 reviews – 11 by Bangladesh and 10 by South Africa – with four reviews upheld for each team.

Proteas v Bangladesh
Bangladesh called for the return of neutral umpires after the 1st Test against South Africa. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

Respected South African umpires Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock were the men in charge under the ICC’s coronavirus restrictions, leading the Bangladeshis to call for neutral umpires.

“The umpiring was tough,” said Elgar. “I don’t think the wicket helped. There was variable bounce which can challenge the umpires.

“I feel for them because they are good umpires. The human factor needs to be spoken of, they do make errors, as do the players, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to learn a lot out of that.

“The umpires make decisions and we need to respect that. The technology is there for a reason. If you don’t use the technology you’re kind of holding yourself accountable for their decisions as well.”

No complaint for Bangladesh skipper

Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque referred only briefly to the Durban controversy, denying that he personally had complained about the South African team’s behaviour.

“I never complained about sledging. In cricket sledging happens and you have to absorb it,” Mominul said.