Sports News | Proteas Captain Hopes for More Test Experience for His Side
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Learning on the job as a Test cricketer can be "brutal," according to South Africa captain Dean Elgar. But he wants his side to experience more of it.
Melbourne, Dec 29 (AP) Learning on the job as a Test cricketer can be "brutal," according to South Africa captain Dean Elgar. But he wants his side to experience more of it.
Struggling to digest his side's record loss by an innings and 182 runs in the second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, Elgar lamented South Africa's lack of exposure to Test matches in a landscape where Twenty20 looms large for cricket's administrators.
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Set a target of 386 just to make Australia bat again, South Africa was bowled out for 204 at tea on day four. While this represented a huge innings loss, it was at least the first time in eight test innings that the Proteas had reached 200.
Elgar, with 13 centuries, is the only player in the side with more than one test hundred.
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"It's a tough one. I have to bite my tongue a little bit," Elgar said.
"Scheduling, going forward for the next five years, I've been going on about it that we need to be playing more test cricket.
"Our players need to be exposed to this level, even though you're taking the hidings that we have had in the first two tests … our players need to be exposed to that. Unfortunately, we are learning most probably in the most ruthless and brutal way."
Elgar said his side's battling collapse on Thursday was "a tough one to digest."
"It was a pretty weak performance I'd say, in conditions which I really felt were in favor of really good test cricket," he said.
Elgar is calling on his side to show some character in the third and final test in Sydney starting on January 4.
"We are playing for the pride of our team," Elgar said.
"We're playing for this badge. We need to try to restore a little bit of pride that maybe has been hurt over the last two weeks." AP
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)