Africa-Press – South-Africa. Proteas captain Dean Elgar was effusive in his praise for the bowling group, but was disappointed in the lack of character from the batting unit in the aftermath of their series loss against Australia.
Having lost the first Test in Brisbane by six wickets last week, they were crushed by an innings and 182 runs in the second Test that concluded on Thursday.
The Proteas were bowled out for 189 and 204 as Australia piled up 575/8 declared in their only innings of the Test.
Despite the 145 overs spent in the field without much reward as David Warner (200) and Alex Carey (111) took advantage of a flagging bowling attack, Elgar said the bowlers did their bit.
He couldn’t say the same of the batting group that again couldn’t produce a Test 100; something that’s been done only twice this year.
“Purely out of this Test, a lot more character was shown with the ball, even though the Aussies batted us into the ground,” Elgar said.
“I saw a lot of characters coming out in our bowling ranks, but maybe not as much in our batting, with Kyle Verreynne putting in decent performances with the bat.
“It’s a tough one to digest currently, but if we did this in two days, I would have been able to give you a bit more feedback.”
Elgar, who made 26 and 0 as his long stretch without a Test match 100 is set to enter a second year, said positive affirmations for the batting group will remain the way to go.
The second innings knock was the first time the Proteas crossed the 200 barrier since the first Test against England at Lords in August.
In the bigger scheme of things, it meant nothing as the defeat margin was wide and a second consecutive Test series has been conceded.
Elgar said their current batting group, outside of Temba Bavuma, may not have the requisite Test experience to make the fastest of adaptations.
“You have to keep going with what you started with when you came here. For me, it’s about that positive affirmation you have to give to the greater group,” Elgar said.
“I’m not going to go away from that because I feel that the guys that we have here are talented and hard-earned first-class cricketers.
“They’re just lacking experience at Test level, but we still have to show faith in them. Hopefully, that’ll turn things around because, in cricket, you’re often just one knock away from being in form.
“You have to keep reminding the guys that they’re not crap cricketers because the game is 80 percent in the mind and 20 percent in skill.”
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