Johannesburg - Dean Elgar bemoaned a lack of intensity from his players following South Africa’s embarrassing first Test defeat to New Zealand at Hagley Oval on Saturday.
The Proteas suffered its second heaviest defeat by an innings ever, going down by an innings and 276 runs. Following the euphoria in the wake of defeating India just over a month ago, this was a loss that will bring the players back down to earth with a shuddering thump. It was almost inexplicable and Elgar admitted he was having a hard time wrapping his head around how his team performed.
“Our intensity was lacking in the last two and a bit days. When our intensity is high and we are operating at a certain level, we compete and give ourselves a chance of a victory. Why we were lacking intensity is something that I’m still processing. I was even trying to process it (Friday) night, and still haven’t come to anything yet,” he said.
“We were totally outplayed by a classy New Zealand outfit in all three departments of the game.”
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South Africa scored a grand total of 206 runs in the match, with Temba Bavuma’s 41 in the second innings the highest score by a Proteas batter.
In the field South Africa dropped seven catches, two of which saw Henry Nicholls let off on five and 23, allowing him to register an eighth Test century, which provided the backbone for New Zealand’s big first innings total of 482.
The bowling was poor as well, and despite the absence of Lungi Ngidi, the lack of control throughout New Zealand’s innings was alarming. “It’s extremely frustrating being a captain and the ball is being hit both sides of the wicket. You can’t set a field for that. That's down to execution and skill,” said Elgar.
“The wicket played differently (when New Zealand batted), the ball was doing a lot less and that allowed their middle and lower order to almost dictate the pace of play. That was purely down to us not being consistent enough. It’s another area where we can be a lot better, but we can be a lot better in many, many areas of the game.”
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Elgar didn’t believe that the off-field distractions related to head coach Mark Boucher’s impending disciplinary hearing made any impact on the players’ performance. Shortly before the tour Boucher said he would be calling some of the players as witnesses in that hearing where he is facing dismissal for what Cricket SA described as “gross misconduct.”
“It’s not foreign to us, what's been happening off the field. I don’t see that as an excuse,” Elgar commented. “As a group we’ve kind of worked through that, and worked it out already. I don’t see that as being an influence within the camp. Individuals can answer that in their own respect, but I definitely don’t see it as (having had) an impact with what's happened in the last few days.”
While the 10 day quarantine - which is mandated by the New Zealand government for visitors to that country - was tough, despite the players being allowed out in small groups for training, Elgar refused to deem it a reason for the side’s loss. “I think it would be a very weak excuse for us to be using,” he said.
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The squad only exited the quarantine facility on Monday moving into a hotel in Christchurch. “It was pretty clear cut that when we came here we would have to respect the rules and regulations of New Zealand. Knowing those rules, it was something that we had to get over.”
Nevertheless Elgar said he would have liked the team to have played a warm-up match before the first Test. “It’s one thing to be training, you almost give yourself a bit of a blueprint, but coming into a Test, we all know that when you replicate a match, then more times than not, you get a clearer vision of what’s expected from a conditions and a playing point of view.”
The second Test will start at the Hagley Oval next Friday.
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