Critics don’t take into account the ‘difficult’ batting conditions Proteas batters have been dealt with thus far in the World Test Championship says Rassie van der Dussen.

The Proteas are well into their preparations for the three-match Test series against Australia starting on December 17th. Dean Elgar’s men will face off against Australia’s Presidential XI from Friday, 9th December where they will have an opportunity to spend time on the field leading up to the series.

The lack of Test match experience has been highlighted as one of the key reasons behind South Africa’s struggles with the bat in this WTC cycle. This led skipper Dean Elgar and the selectors to take a different approach in assembling the batting group. They have opted for the more experienced batters in domestic cricket instead of the exciting youngsters that are piling up the runs in the 4-Day competition.

Another aspect, as per Proteas batter Rassie van der Dussen, is that critics have wrongfully overlooked the difficult batting conditions that they have been exposed to since facing India at home last December.

“People have been quite critical of our batting unit in the past two years. In the last 18 to 24 months, the conditions that we’ve batted in have really been tough,” Van der Dussen told the media on Thursday morning.

Van der Dussen says the critics that are comparing their batting unit with other country’s batting units aren’t taking into account the batter-friendly conditions every other Test national has had an opportunity to take advantage of.

It can not be ignored though that in all the ‘difficult’ batting conditions Rassie is mentioning, the opposition batters have managed to score tons in each series. Are the critics really overlooking the difficult batting conditions?

Van der Dussen continues:

“The numbers tell the story in that our guys are averaging 30s and some guys from other countries are averaging 50s and 60s and then people compare the two without considering conditions,” he said.

Despite the batting difficulties, the Proteas have done well as a team. They are currently placed second in the WTC with only one series loss in four series played. But the question remains, how much of this success has been due to our bowling dominance?

“We’re sitting second in the WTC table at the moment and that tells you the cricket we’ve been playing has been sufficient in getting us there. The conditions we’ve batted in the opposition has batted in as well but we’ve somehow come out on top,” said Van der Dussen.

“I think sometimes people look too much into that stat and for us, as a batting lineup we’re not looking for excuses and we definitely want to get more hundreds. At the end of the day if we can bag as a unit and get our team over the line that’s the most important thing.”

Australian conditions are expected to be more balanced providing an even contest between bat and ball. Post this series, it will be difficult to use ‘conditions’ as a reason for shortcomings or for failure to meet world standards.