South Africa and Australia will face off in a Test series this summer for the first time since the sandpaper gate saga that rocked the cricket world back in 2018.
Old wounds were opened recently when former Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis brought up the scandal in his biography, however, the Proteas skipper Dean Elgar reiterated that the sandpaper gate is in the past and there’s no lingering animosity with all those involved and insists there’s no blood with Warner and Smith in particular.
“That period is long elapsed and we’ve moved forward as a group after that,” he said
“It was a very tough time for all of us, even though we weren‘t the guys who got the brunt of everything, but we were part of that and it was obviously sad events that happened, I wish things could been a lot different,” Elgar said.
“The history between South Africa and Australia when it comes to Test cricket is so rich. The competitive nature is very similar. We both want to go out and win and play a brand of cricket that our countries are proud of.”
South Africa have the upper hand over their counterparts winning 3 of their last series in Australia in 2008, 2012 and 2016 but the skipper knows they’ll have to be up for the challenge this time around considering the teams batting woes and we’re well aware of Australia’s pitches being more on the friendlier side for batting.
“I’ve experienced two tours here and they ended quite well for us but that is your past. The learnings out of that is we can compete and win here and that is a massive positive for us within the group”
“Australia’s a great place to play Test cricket I feel it’s a good balance between bat and ball”
Australia is also a great place for fast bowlers with their pitches offering pace and bounce and Elgar is seemingly excited about the pacers at his disposal.
“they all bring something unique which is nice to have when you come to Australia, you want to have a balance of skill and you want to have that balance as well with regards to the raw pace that they bring to the attack.”
