Proteas didn’t seem intent on win
FOR the followers of the Proteas cricket test side, one must question the performance and mental application on Saturday afternoon.
Up to lunchtime Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla had treated the bowling on merit.
Yes, there was some narrow escapes with the ball missing the outside edge!
The Herald on Monday did not even bother to give any comment on the team’s result in losing the test, after being one down at the break.
After the dismissal of Amla, the highly ranked AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock could not put 10 runs together between them.
Vernon Philander, after hitting a four, went for a glory shot and was out.
The team had less than a hundred runs to get and even the players who played the ball on merit in the first innings were not able to reproduce the performance.
Yes, the wicket was not ideal, but the body language visible to the viewers did not show that there was any focus on scoring runs with a win in mind.
We have a new coach and coaching staff on site, so hopefully against Australia an improvement will take to the field.
R A Hill, Greenacres, Port Elizabeth THE test finished on Saturday and The Herald did in fact have a follow-up story on Monday. – The Herald sports editor Alvin Reeves