After winning the first Test against England at Lord’s, it looked as though South Africa were going to cause a bit of an upset and end the fairy-tale start to life in charge of the England Test team by new captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. Mark Boucher’s Proteas were in dominant form, winning the first Test by an innings and 12 runs.
But a few weeks later, England are the series winners, having beaten the Proteas in the next two Tests. Sadly, South Africa’s batters failed dismally in English conditions, with only captain Dean Elgar, Sarel Erwee and Keegan Petersen scoring more than 100 runs in the series.
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To be bowled out for scores of 151 and 179 (second Test) and 118 and 169 (third Test) is proof the Proteas need drastic intervention in the batting department. Or, the players simply have to take responsibility and start scoring runs. Because with a world-class bowling attack, led by Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas can’t expect to be competitive for long if their batters don’t back up the bowlers.
Sadly, with not too much Test cricket on the horizon for the Proteas, one wonders how much focus will be on the Test line-up in the foreseeable future.
