Johannesburg — Dean Elgar refused to utter what he referred to as the “B word” on Monday afternoon, as he absorbed the Proteas’ Test series defeat to England, and came to terms with the reasons for it.
It was foolish of the South African captain. “Bazball” didn’t beat the Proteas. In fact they probably taught England a valuable lesson at Lord’s and Ben Stokes was good enough to take heed thereof.
England played the basics darn well and as Elgar explained, the tempo with which they played wasn’t the explosive manner with which they blew away India and New Zealand earlier in the English summer.
“I didn’t think they played ultra-aggressive Test cricket, they just played with good tempo. I didn’t see the ‘B word’ coming through. I really felt they controlled it well, they played what the game deserved at that point in time,” said Elgar.
However there is probably a lesson for the Proteas to take from the mentality with which England plays. They’ve simplified things. Brendon McCullum, their coach, was on Sky Sports on Monday outlining how he had worked to eliminate all the outside noise, and for the players to play what was in front of them.
Often in the last two Tests it looked like SA were too involved in whatever preconceived notions they had of the opposition, the pitch and conditions. It proved very costly with the team selection in Manchester as well as the toss there, and that is before we even start with the bad batting.
The Proteas made tricky pitches look like minefields, and good bowlers seemed like they were hurling hand grenades.
SA knew coming into the series that the batting was weak, and they weren’t helped in that regard by the absence of Temba Bavuma, whose average of 47.93 in the last two years, underlines the stability he has provided during a period in which the Proteas have turned around their Test form.
The hole he left was one they simply couldn’t fill.
Elgar said he would be meeting with, most likely the director of cricket, Enoch Nkwe to unpack the series and how he sees a way of solving a problem which led to the Proteas wasting a great opportunity of winning a first Test series against England in 10 years.
“I always bank on experience. I know we don’t have that at Test level,” Elgar said of the batting. “So the next best thing is who do we have with first-class cricket back home? Is that the right solution? We don’t know yet. We still have a few months before our next series and only a handful of four-day games at home before we leave for Australia. That’s the way that I will word it going home. It’s tough now, because the guys have to learn the toughest format without a lot of experienced heads around them.”
The kind of assistance that Nkwe and Cricket SA can provide is made more difficult by a calendar which is dominated by the limited-overs formats both domestically and internationally.
Nkwe said last week he would be seeking more opportunities to play Test matches even with SA having so few Tests in the next Future Tours Programme. “In the red-ball phase, we will look at how to create a stronger support system, looking at the SA A team, to have more game time for them to make sure they are well prepared for the Proteas,” said Nkwe.
That is for the longer term. In the meanwhile, with a three-match series against Australia in three months' time, the Proteas need to look inward, and perhaps adopt a more simplified approach with the bat.
Elgar was asked about Marco Jansen’s success in England with the 22-year-old taking nine wickets in two Tests, including a maiden five-wicket haul, and playing a couple of good innings with the bat. “He has a different mentality in the way he approaches the game,” Elgar said. “He approaches the game with a positive mindset. He’s got no baggage, he’s raw and never really failed yet, so he can play with that positive and open mindset.”
Perhaps therein lies an example for the batters to follow. As good as England’s bowling was, and as tricky as conditions were, too often the Proteas batters looked weighed down by everything that could go wrong.
A more positive and open mindset may be the key ingredients in the future.
IOL Sport