{"id":60566,"date":"2024-02-05T17:07:35","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T17:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps"},"modified":"2024-02-05T18:18:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T18:18:42","slug":"batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps","title":{"rendered":"Batters face uphill struggle as Proteas battle to stay in touch with Black Caps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Despite trailing by 431 runs at the end of the second day of the opening Test against New Zealand, Proteas captain Neil Brand believes his team are not out of contention yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel that we can do something special here,\u201d Brand said after Monday\u2019s play. He has to stay positive, as do his teammates, but the truth is the Proteas are in a Kimberley-sized hole at the Bay Oval in Mt Maunganui. Getting through 28 overs, as they had to do in the final session on Monday, was always going to be difficult, especially as New Zealand\u2019s substantial first innings total of 511 meant Tim Southee would be able to set aggressive fields.<\/p>\n

The Black Caps bowlers, however, were smart with their lines in particular, targeting the stumps, something the South African seamers, with the exception of medium pacer Ruan de Swardt didn\u2019t do enough of when they bowled. It left SA 80\/4, with Brand and Zubayr Hamza a touch unfortunate to lose their wickets.<\/p>\n

South Africa could have afforded the loss of two batters in that session, but four leaves a staggering amount of work to do, even though batting on day three is forecast to be easier by the majority of local experts.<\/p>\n

The problem is South Africa will have to bat last on a pitch that Brand showed was beginning to assist the spin. Although the majority of his six wicket haul, which included that of top scorer Rachin Ravindra, who made 240, were the result of New Zealand\u2019s aggressive play, one wicket showed the peril awaiting the Proteas.<\/p>\n

Brand got one to spin out of the rough to bowl Mitchel Santner, New Zealand\u2019s front-line left-arm spinner, who was later lucky to get the wicket of Hamza, but will play an increasingly prominent role in the remainder of the match.<\/p>\n

The Proteas have 16 wickets to play with and will have to display every iota of skill to keep a disciplined New Zealand attack at bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one partnership away from being back in the game. We’ve played the extra batter and hopefully we can put that to good use,\u201d said Brand.<\/p>\n

That selection of an extra batter is at the expense of a front-line spinner, meaning Dane Piedt and Shaun von Berg are carrying drinks. It left Brand having to carry a heavy workload with the ball \u2014 bowling 26 overs for his 6\/119 \u2014 a toll that probably played a roll in his dismissal when he batted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough grind,\u201d Brand said of the first two days of play. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t expect anything less. We gave them a couple of chances which didn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless it\u2019s been enjoyable. \u201cWhenever you get down on yourself you look up at the crowd and it\u2019s just amazing to be on a ground like this doing what you love.\u201dBesides Brand and Raynard van Tonder, there were good signs from the rest of the Proteas batters on Monday. Ed Moore was typically assertive and Hamza played within himself.<\/p>\n

David Bedingham, aside from the opportunity he gave when pulling upward against Kyle Jamieson, a chance which was spilled by Matt Henry, produced more classical shotmaking, although there were signs of frustration, with New Zealand\u2019s clever fielding positions cutting off a few boundary-bound drives.<\/p>\n

Those are the kind of \u201csmall wins\u201d the Proteas batters need to take if they are to stretch this game into a fifth day and \u201cdo something special,\u201d as their captain believes they can.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Despite trailing by 431 runs at the end of the second day of the opening Test against New Zealand, Proteas captain Neil Brand believes his team are not out of contention yet. \u201cI still feel that we can do something special here,\u201d Brand said after Monday\u2019s play. He has to stay positive, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-60566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nBatters face uphill struggle as Proteas battle to stay in touch with Black Caps - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite trailing by 431 runs at the end of the second day of the opening Test against New Zealand, Proteas captain Neil ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Batters face uphill struggle as Proteas battle to stay in touch with Black Caps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite trailing by 431 runs at the end of the second day of the opening Test against New Zealand, Proteas captain Neil ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-05T17:07:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-05T18:18:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1707144350.606332.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Batters face uphill struggle as Proteas battle to stay in touch with Black Caps\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-05T17:07:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-05T18:18:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1707144350.606332.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/batters-face-uphill-struggle-as-proteas-battle-to-stay-in-touch-with-black-caps\",\"name\":\"Batters face uphill struggle as Proteas battle to stay in touch with Black Caps - 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