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Elgar a happy captain, but lack of hundreds a big concern
Several players went past 50 in the two Tests against Bangladesh, but no one scored a century.
South Africa’s Dean Elgar raises his bat as he celebrates after scoring a half-century (50 runs) against Bangladesh. Fellow batter Keegan Petersen was also in the runs in the recent Test series, but no Proteas batter went on to make a century. Picture: Marco Longari / AFP
While satisfied with his team’s successful summer, Proteas captain Dean Elgar admits the batters need to convert their starts into hundreds.
If there were any concerns about the team’s performances over the last few months, it was the fact the South Africa batters failed to go big on several occasions after they’d done the hard work to settle in at the crease.
“From a batting point of view, we need to notch up more hundreds,” said Elgar after the team’s 2-0 series win against Bangladesh.
South Africa won the first Test in Durban by 220 runs and completed the job in Gqeberha on Monday by winning the second Test by 332 runs.
“Us senior guys are getting into position and we need to reach those three figures because we know how much pressure that then puts on the opposition.
“We haven’t quite nailed down the batting, and that’s on my own plate as well, so that’s the one main negative. But we’re extremely aware of it, we’re working bloody hard to fix it, maybe even trying too hard,” Elgar said.
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In the first innings of the first Test in Durban Elgar scored 67, Sarel Erwee 41, Keegan Petersen 19, Temba Bavuma 93, Ryan Rickelton 21 and Kyle Verreynne 28. In the second innings the significant contributors were Elgar with 64, Petersen with 36, and Rickelton with 39 not out.
In the second Test in Gqeberha, in the first innings, Elgar got 70, Erwee 24, Petersen 64, Bavuma 67, Rickelton 42 and Verreynne 22.
The lower order also contributed significantly, with Wiaan Mulder making 33, Keshav Maharaj 84 and Simon Harmer 29.
“Not a lot of people would have given us a chance of winning five out of seven Tests this summer and it’s great to have those numbers on our side,” Elgar said after the Proteas’ latest victory.
“It’s been an extremely successful summer with a lot to build on, but my job is also to dissect our performances and get the negatives out,” he added in reference to the batting.
“I think the team is in a very special place, which means I’m a lot happier with what I’m doing as captain. Getting results and playing good, strong cricket definitely eases the burden of captaincy.
“I’m very grateful for the cricket we’ve played this summer and it’s been great to be competitive at this level,” Elgar said.
