Performance Analyst Prasanna Agoram explains why the cracks in South Africa’s batting unit are mainly due to the lack of Test match experience and the only thing the batters need is patience and backing, writes Ongama Gcwabe.

The Value Of Experience in a Batting unit

The South African Test batters have been struggling since the retirement of some big names in the Proteas Test team. In this Test Championship campaign, South Africa’s batters have only managed two centuries, both of which came from newbies Sarel Erwee and Kyle Verreynne.

The batters have continued their lean patch as a unit in the ongoing Test series in the UK. Only one half-century has been scored by a member of the top six. Yes, just one in two Tests! Only Sarel Erwee did so in the first Test.

A 49 and a 42 from bowling allrounders, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj respectively, helped South Africa reach a 200-plus score and an overall lead of 161 which was enough for the bowlers to wrap up the match by an innings and 12 runs.

Again, the top six failed in the second Test as they were bundled out for 155 in the first innings and 179 in the second as the team suffered an innings defeat. And No, it wasn’t the addition of an extra spinner which led to the embarrassing loss. Instead, it was the dismal batting performance.

“Look at India, they have Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. These guys have hundreds of Test matches between them. Australia as well, they have David Warner, Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja who have a lot of experience. Any team that’s doing well as a batting unit has proper experience in the batting unit,” experienced performance analyst Prasanna Agoram told Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“Then you look at teams that have been struggling with the bat recently. Why is a team like Sri Lanka struggling? Why is England struggling? They only have Joe Root who’s been consistent. Ben Stokes is slowly getting to the senior mould.

“Even though Jonny Bairstow has the experience, his place in Tests has been under serious scrutiny until the four Test matches in which he scripted the four magnificent scores. Had he not performed in the Test matches against New Zealand he probably wouldn’t be playing against South Africa,” Agoram remarked.

It is hard for the proud and passionate South African fans to come to terms with the fact that the Test side has been struggling to register 300-plus scores since 2019.

For many years, the Proteas had batters scoring hundreds for fun but now our batters are struggling. Even the experienced and gritty Dean Elgar is finding it hard in England so far.

But this is not the first time South Africa has fielded inexperienced batters in Test match cricket.

Faf du Plessis saved a Test match in Australia with a superb ton on debut, so why aren’t these inexperienced batters able to replicate such performances when the team needs them the most?

“Let me take you back to 2010 when there was Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers,” continued Agoram.

“When the likes of JP Duminy and Alviro Petersen came along, they were surrounded by lions who were always ready to hunt every innings. There was no way that all of them were going to fail at the same time.

“That is where Alviro Petersen moulded himself as one of the greats. People wouldn’t really feel the failures of Alviro Petersen when he first came into the scene because there were so many experienced batters around him scoring runs which almost made it unnoticeable.

“The same applies to JP when he was fairly inexperienced until he established himself in that Test side. The batting forces of that time had the experience to allow these guys to settle into the Test arena.

“Apart from Elgar, the rest of the batters (on tour) haven’t cemented their place in the playing eleven. And it is not only because of his captaincy but because of the runs he has scored home and away, even in the subcontinent.

“Then you go to Sarel Erwee who’s very new to Test cricket. The same applies to Keegan Petersen. Then to Rassie van der Dussen, he’s only three years old in Test cricket. The only issue with him is that the big hundreds haven’t been coming. Let’s not forget the contributions he made during the India series last summer.

“Unfortunately, five batters in the top six don’t have the cushion of a Hashim Amla in terms of batting experience. There’s only one experienced player and yet people and pundits expect them to score 400 plus scores regularly which I think is unfair.

“So, for a batting unit to really dominate consistently they need at least two or three batters with 70-plus Test matches each to shield them and share their experience and make the inexperienced batters comfortable as they try to cement their place in the side.”

The Value of Experience in a Bowling attack

Jansen has been playing Test cricket for 10 months while Anrich Nortje hadn’t played Test cricket since the West Indies in 2021 and missed the whole South African summer. But both of them have performed superbly against England.

What is the difference between our batting unit and our bowling attack, that’s making the bowlers perform extremely well compared to the struggling batting unit?

“You look at our bowling attack, we’re building a potent bowling attack that performs consistently and you ask yourself why? It’s because you have KG Rabada who’s played seven years of Test cricket since making his debut in 2015 which makes him a spearhead of the attack,” explained Agoram.

“And then there’s Maharaj who’s played Test cricket for six years since his 2016 debut in Australia. Then you have Lungi Ngidi who’s been around since 2017 even though he hasn’t played a lot of Test matches.

“But at least you’ve got two or three guys who are the mainstays and who are experienced enough for the other guys to rally around. Jansen is starting to make his mark and Nortje hasn’t played a lot of Tests since his 2019 debut in India. That is why the bowling attack is performing while the batting has been struggling.”

It is perfectly normal for the South African cricket community to be as frustrated as they have shown across all social media platforms due to the failing batting efforts from the Proteas top six. But it is clear, as Agoram has illustrated that experience can’t be bought and is very important in Test cricket.

The sensible thing to do is to rally behind this batting group whether or not changes will be made going into the third Test at The Oval.

“We need to be patient. This team has a lot of talent. Even though they haven’t scored consistently, they’ve shown skill and class. It’s only the backing that they need,” concluded Agoram.