The Proteas have gone without a single Test series loss this summer and Captain Dean Elgar echoed compliments for his side for the successful summer they have had as a Test side.
The South African summer started on a negative note when India beat the Proteas convincingly in the Boxing Day Test last year. That defeat was followed by a sudden retirement of senior player and former captain, Quinton de Kock, and made things look hopeless for the Test side going into the second Test of the summer.
Surprisingly, the Proteas made the step up and secured a series win against the number one Test team in the world at the time. That series win was followed by a drawn Test series in New Zealand and a whitewash against Bangladesh topped up a fantastic summer for a new-look South African Test side.
“Not a lot of people would’ve given us that kind of stats at the start of the season but it’s great to have those numbers on our side,” said Elgar.
“There’s been a lot of work behind the seasons. We’ve had an extremely successful summer. Not just on the Test side but as a cricketing nation. There are a lot of things for us to build on. By all means, I’m extremely proud of the Test summer we’ve had.”
What has made this summer even more special is how the young, fringe players have responded to the opportunities they’ve been given in the Test side. Marco Jansen, Kyle Verreynne and Keegan Petersen are all some of the names that have shown maturity and won South Africa Test matches this summer.
“I’m also proud of the depth we’ve shown with regards to our selection pool and giving guys opportunities just so that they can see what Test cricket is all about. I’m extremely proud of the group of players that we’ve fielded over the last few months,” said Elgar.
As successful as the Proteas have been this summer, there are still loopholes and areas of concern with the side. The batting has been the biggest of all worries in the team and Elgar emphasized their awareness of the problem.
“From a batting point of view, we need to notch up a few more hundreds. That’s a lot of emphasis on my plate as well. Our senior guys, when we get into good positions, we need to get those three-figure marks,” said Elgar.
“That’s the one area of focus that I think we as a group are extremely aware of. We’re working very hard to get those hundreds. I think it’s maybe a case of stopping trying too hard and not focus too far ahead.”
As good as it is to have a bigger talent pool to select from ahead of the Test series against England and Australia this year, there are a lot of selection headaches given that the KG Rabada’s and the Aiden Markram’s are going to come back from the IPL before these big tours.
Will the IPL players come back straight into the team after leaving at the time they’ve left, before a Test series? Do the youngsters like Rickelton play ahead of the Rassie van der Dussen’s when we tour England?
“I don’t think the statement of them coming back is a fair one. I think the guys that have played right now have made a massive statement with regards to the few opportunities that they’ve had,” he said.
“We have a decent batting pool going forward now. I can’t speak of whether those guys are going to get selected again, that’s out of my hands. It was nice seeing young guys like Ryan Rickelton come in and actually take to it pretty well,“ Elgar concluded.
