Proteas captain Dean Elgar. Photo: AFP
Proteas captain Elgar has ‘no regrets’ on selection, toss
Proteas captain Dean Elgar has defended a couple of controversial decisions in the second Test against England.
Proteas captain Dean Elgar. Photo: AFP
Despite cloudy, seamer-friendly conditions greeting the Proteas at the start of Thursday’s first day of the second Test at Old Trafford, captain Dean Elgar opted to bat first rather than stick to the decision to bowl, which had served them so well at Lord’s.
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The decision immediately backfired as the Proteas lost five wickets before lunch, and were ultimately dismissed for just 151, with a shortened batting lineup having also been exposed after all-rounder Marco Jansen was dropped for Simon Harmer.
England replied by compiling an emphatic 415/9 before declaring early and putting South Africa back in to bat. Despite a brief resistance, the Proteas then capitulated to 179 all out.
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Elgar seemingly thought it was a calculated risk to bat first, citing the fact that the pitch looked dry, and hopefully would suit their two spinners later in the game.
“I think first innings runs stabilise your game. If you score 300-plus, you’re giving yourself a chance to compete and get a result,” he said. “We were half of that and I really don’t think we batted well. Sure, the ball went around, but this is Test cricket, and we need to deal with it.
“We lost those two wickets just before lunch on day one, and if we were three down at lunch, I think we would have been in a pretty good position. I would have bitten my arm off for that, but we were five down, and you’re always going to be playing catch-up cricket from there.
“From there, the wicket did deteriorate like we thought it would, and it played in favour of the seamers and spinners. I think the batting in the first innings let us down.”
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The Proteas’ third and final Test starts on 8 September
Elgar also sought to explain why Jansen had been left out.
“Marco is the least experienced in our four-pronged pace attack. Lungi (Ngidi) gives us the control, Anrich (Nortje) gives us the raw pace and KG (Rabada) is the full package.
“We thought Jansen was the obvious choice with (Simon) Harmer, who also provides something with the bat.”
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