Ken Borland

Bowlers have travelled so much in the first two days of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park that it has been reminiscent of the traffic between Gauteng and the coast during a normal festive season, but Proteas opening batsman Dean Elgar said on Sunday that the pitch is not as flat as the scores would suggest.

Sri Lanka posted 396 in 96 overs (run-rate 4.12) after winning the toss and batting first, while South Africa had rattled up 317 for four in 72 overs at stumps, a run-rate of 4.40. Elgar was pivotal to the Proteas’ strong reply, scoring a typically pugnacious 95. Having spent 199 minutes at the crease, the nuggety left-hander was ideally placed to talk about the interesting pitch.

“Looking at the scores you would think the pitch is quite flat but it’s not; there’s been quite a lot of assistance on the last two days for the seamers which the scores don’t reflect. It’s probably down to some good batting and poor bowling, but it’s a very good Test wicket. We are set up nicely and there’s definitely quite a bit still in it, the new ball is especially hard to face.

“At SuperSport Park, the margin for error for the bowlers is so small and you will go for runs if you miss your mark, the outfield is so fast. Bowlers can get carried away by the bounce and pace here, but those are not necessarily the right places to bowl. But if the bowlers stick to a fourth-stump line like Lutho Sipamla (16-1-76-4) did today then you will be rewarded. But batting with a straight bat will also bring reward,” Elgar said.

The 33-year-old had just weathered a fierce short-pitched, bodyline-type barrage from fast bowler Lahiru Kumara when he hit a sharp return catch to medium-pacer Dasun Shanaka, but Elgar said it was not disappointing that he had fallen just short of his first Test century in 14 innings.

“It was a bit unlucky but I guess I needed to put the ball on the ground. But it was great to just be out there playing for my country. It would have been good to get to three figures but I don’t play for that. I’m there to set up the game for my team and I think it was job done. The openers are supposed to set things up and it was a good day with the bat.”

Elgar and Aiden Markram (68) put on a brilliant 141 for the first wicket to set the tone for South Africa’s strong reply, and the left-hander said it was just a continuation of the good mindsets and strong game-plans they have shown together for the Titans.

“Aiden and I have been batting well domestically the last few months so it’s good to do it now at international level. There’s been a lot of hard work building up to this series and the team has spoken about aggression which we have maybe missed a bit. But you still have to be very calculated and I know myself I still have to earn the right to play that way,” Elgar said.