I don’t see it as a fair contest: South Africa captain Dean Elgar calls out Gabba pitch as bad for Test cricket

Australia have maintained their unbeaten Test status at home this summer and closed in on booking a spot at next year’s World Test Championship final with a decisive six-wicket victory over a disappointing South Africa in the first Test in Brisbane on Sunday.

The win sees Australia move further ahead at the top of the World Test Championship standings, while South Africa are overtaken by India and drop to third as a result of the loss.

South Africa were only able to set Australia a target of 34 over the course of two days as 34 wickets fell in less than 145 overs, including 20 South African wickets in 86 overs. With substantial help from the seamers, they grabbed four wickets in the last innings, and Elgar felt they could have easily dismissed Australia once again if they had had more runs to work with.
“I’m not going to say it was unsafe or it wasn’t safe. The edges of the divots start to get harder and they become more abrasive because the wicket starts drying out. Back home the wickets are also prone to creating those divots, and it becomes a handful. But generally, that only happens later in the game, when those divots start playing quite a big role. This one seemed to start yesterday already,” said Elgar.

“I’m not a curator and I wouldn’t know how to prepare a cricket pitch, but it was interesting to see how quickly this one actually did start divotting and how quickly the ball sped up; especially the new ball. Also today the older ball was flying through, which shouldn’t be really happening. The divots had a big role to play, especially with the sideways movement and then up and down. And then the ball that’s got that steep bounce, which is quite something to face,” he added.

“If you were a bowler, you were licking your lips. It was challenging for the batters, no doubt, which is okay if there’s a good contest between bat and ball but obviously on the flip side, I don’t see it as a fair contest,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Elgar as saying.

The Test match was over in less than two days as Australia’s strong bowling attack – with some assistance from a bowler-friendly surface at The Gabba – made light work of South Africa’s batters with an impressive team performance.

“A few scars might have been opened. We’ve still got another raw paceman sitting on the sidelines in [Gerald] Coetzee, so it’s nice to have him in the wings,” he added.

South Africa has a week to prepare for the Boxing Day Test, which begins on Monday and will be centred on their batting, thanks to the extra three days off. Elgar could find nothing wrong with their preparation, which started with travelling to Australia two weeks prior to the first Test and included a tour match, even though they were dismissed for under 200 for the fifth and sixth time in a row during this Test match.

“I can’t think we can prepare any better than the way we did heading into this series. Conditions were not in favour for the batters in this game. I can’t think of us doing much else. We are still going to prepare the way we are going to prepare for the second Test and take it from there. Extra three days, obviously unplanned, go back to the drawing board and sit down and get the think tank going again,” he said.

Coming to the match, put to bat by Australia, South Africa was bundled out for 152 in their first innings. Except for a 98-run stand between Kyle Verreynne (64) and Temba Bavuma (38), the Proteas struggled in bowling-friendly conditions. Spinner Nathan Lyon (3/14) and pacer Mitchell Starc (3/41) were extremely impressive for the Aussies. Pat Cummins and Scott Boland took two wickets each.

Aussies gained a 56-run lead in the match after being bundled out for 218 in the second innings. Travis Head (92 off 96 balls) batted exceptionally on the surface that offered assistance to bowlers. After the hosts were reduced to 27/3 in the second innings, he stitched a 117-run partnership with Steve Smith (36) to help the Aussies get a sizeable lead. Pacer Kagiso Rabada (4/76) and Marco Jansen (3/32) were the standout bowlers for Proteas.

Skipper Pat Cummins (5/42) and the consistent Scott Boland (2/14) did the majority of the damage on Sunday, while Mitchell Starc (2/26) picked up his 300th Test wicket early in the day as South Africa were skittled for just 99 in their second innings. Khaya Zondo was the top scorer, with 36*. Bavuma also scored 29 runs.

South Africa caused some concern in the Australia camp when they claimed four wickets. The hosts chased down the 34 required for victory, with Marnus Labuschagne (5*) and Cameron Green (0*) guiding the side home as the Aussies clinched the opening match of the three-game series.

The battle to reach next year’s World Test Championship decider at The Oval is still wide open, with South Africa a chance to reclaim second place with positive results during the remaining two Tests in Australia.

The Proteas travel to Melbourne for the second Test that commences on Boxing Day, before the third and final Test of the series in Sydney early in the New Year.

Australia will be keen to add to the three Test matches they have won against the West Indies and South Africa at home this summer, with a difficult trip to India for four Tests in February and March to likely decide who claims the two spots in the World Test Championship final.