Ken Borland

Proteas captain Dean Elgar said on Thursday that “If we want success then we need consistency in selection” as he indicated that much the same South Africa team will take the field at St George’s Park on Friday for the second Test against Bangladesh.

For the first time since 1970, South Africa played two frontline spinners in a home Test during last week’s thumping win over Bangladesh in the first Test in Durban, and Elgar said he expected conditions to be similar. So Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer look set to both play again and even struggling all-rounder Wiaan Mulder remains in contention for the starting XI.

“If we want success we need consistency in selection and it’s normally a similar sort of pitch here as it is at Kingsmead,” Elgar said. “So I don’t think there will be many changes.

“I like the adaptability of our attack and I would love to have used Wiaan more. But when we saw the conditions, we decided to keep the pressure on with our world-class spinners.

“It might be different here in PE, especially if the ball swings, and then we’re more likely to use Wiaan to showcase his skills. The wind is a massive factor and it hasn’t stopped blowing since we got here.

“If it comes over the scoreboard then the locals call it the ‘Swing Wind’. But the players need to adapt to whatever circumstances come their way and the seamers might have a lot more work in this Test,” Elgar said.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have apparently lodged a formal complaint with the ICC over the Proteas’ alleged sledging during the first Test, which they say was ignored by the South African umpires.

Elgar, in typically hard-nosed fashion, said the tourists have to harden up to the realities of Test cricket.

“It’s not justified what they said towards the South African side. We do play hard, but we were just giving back what we got. And there was certainly no swearing, we do everything with dignity.

“They need to harden up and play at the Test level of intensity. It’s Test cricket and they must dry their eyes. There’s a lot that’s not seen, there are off-camera incidents as well.

“But we would not intentionally intimidate a young player with language, but with skill. When I started Test cricket, the environment was much harsher than it is now.

“We still want to win though, so if some mind-games can help you with that then why not use them? Maybe Bangladesh got caught up in the moment a bit … ” Elgar said.

Bulls coach Gert Smal was quick to deflect a question over how it is going to feel for him to return to Cape Town and take on arch-rivals Western Province, a team with whom he enjoyed considerable success as a player, coach and director of rugby, in their Currie Cup match on Wednesday night.

But it will be a poignant moment for the former Springbok loose forward and World Cup winning assistant coach to Jake White. In answering the question, Smal did give an insight into how quickly allegiances can change in the world of professional rugby.

“Ja, it’s funny. In the past week-and-a-half I’ve been having one-on-ones with the players and some of them are guys I contracted at Western Province and now they are at the Bulls,” Smal, who was director of rugby at Newlands from 2014 to 2018, said. He coached the Western Province and Stormers teams between 2000 and 2005.

“There are others here who I was looking at, wanting to bring them to Western Province. But it’s always nice to see talent growing, on both sides. Western Province played well too over the weekend.

“I’m looking forward to the contest, I’m really excited to see how it pans out. It’s a new, big match for us and it’s important we put the game together that we want to see on the park,” Smal said.

And Smal is not the only Springbok who will be visiting Cape Town with the Bulls. He has been able to name fellow internationals Bismarck du Plessis, Marcell Coetzee, Morne Steyn and Lionel Mapoe in his side.

Smal was cagey when it came to the question of whether they are just on loan to him until the United Rugby Championship gets back into full swing.

“It’s a new dynamic, running with two teams and it’s a nice challenge to get the balance right. It’s important for some guys to get some game-time and it’s nice to have them with us at the moment.

“They bring great experience and the youngsters around them are getting experience, in terms of intellectual property and leadership, from the senior players.

“It’s about managing the squad, giving everyone some game-time. The beauty of us being one squad is that all the players feel they are part of it, in with a shout.

“Obviously our big names in the team are going to motivate Western Province quite heavily. The challenge for us is to keep our concentration and processes going for 80 minutes,” Smal said.

Bulls team:James Verity-Amm, Canan Moodie, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Sibongile Novuka, Morne Steyn, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Muller Uys, Cyle Brink, Marcell Coetzee, Janko Swanepoel, Sintu Manjezi, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima. Replacements– Schalk Erasmus, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Sebastian Lombard, Reinardt Ludwig, WJ Steenkamp, Keagan Johannes, FC du Plessis, Stedman Gans.

India owe numerous debts of gratitude to their captain Virat Kohli, who batted for four-and-a-half hours and wrestled them to 223 all out with his defiant innings of 79, but his conqueror, Kagiso Rabada, said the secret to his and South Africa’s success on the first day of the decisive third Test at Newlands on Tuesday was not coming up with any special plans but rather being relentless in their basics.

Rabada was outstanding in his 50^th Test and actually deserved better than his final figures of 4/73 in 22 overs on Tuesday, such was the quality of his fast bowling. His tussle with Kohli was dazzling at times, and South Africa’s talismanic fast bowler eventually won the day when he had the great batsman caught behind as the penultimate wicket of the innings.

“Kohli batted extremely well and he was very patient with leaving the ball,” Rabada said. “People think we have such wicked plans but it was all about bowling a good line and length, being relentless and resilient.

“I wasn’t going for his pads obviously. I was just trying to get the ball to swing away, that’s where he’s been getting out lately, and the important thing was to just stick at it.

“Bowling very seldom feels perfect, but it was a good day for me. I just tried to be as consistent as possible. Nothing changes, I’m just trying to do the same thing.

“Things went my way today, I feel good about the way I bowled and it was a decent day,” Rabada said with some modesty.

India chose to bat first with dark clouds enveloping the ground and a greenish tinge to the pitch. Armed with the hard, red new ball, Rabada and Duanne Olivier made life hard for them from the outset.

But although there was movement and some steep bounce, Rabada said the Newlands pitch is not exactly poisonous. South Africa, batting under clear blue skies, had reached 17/1 in the eight overs they faced before stumps.

“There’s still quite a bit in the pitch, but it looks a proper Test wicket. Batsmen will have to grind, but the bowlers still have to bowl well. We have no control over conditions, but I don’t think it’s going to get much easier for batsmen tomorrow [Wednesday],” Rabada said.

The 26-year-old, who took his tally to 230 Test wickets, was in his element on Tuesday. His action was liquid smooth, his accuracy superb and the ball was talking.

India have a couple of mean fast bowlers of their own though, and South Africa’s batting line-up are going to have to support their bowlers now and do well as a unit.

The Proteas left for the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and the T20 World Cup, with captain Temba Bavuma saying it will be all hands on deck as they are relying on a team effort and not individual success to do well.

With the likes of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris not being selected, never mind AB de Villiers, the Proteas are lacking some of the global superstars of other teams, apart from Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi.

But their form in recent times has been impressive, especially their series wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, in conditions that are expected to be similar to what they will find in the UAE. And they have prepared well with a camp in Durban, former Proteas star JP Duminy, seconded to the team as a strategic consultant, saying he was very impressed by the attention to detail the squad showed in terms of their skills.

“We pride ourselves on how well prepared we are,” Bavuma said on Sunday. “And we are not relying on individuals to get us over the line, we will be relying on a team effort. If we all take care of our basics and the small things, if we do the right things day-by-day, then we trust the results will look after themselves.

“The team is in a good space and if you saw our performances in the Sri Lanka T20s, then you will know there was nothing inhibiting us.

“We will be trying to do more of the same, our approach will be no different to what has brought us some good success lately and we will take from those experiences.

“It’s all about how we execute our game-plan and do it in pressurised moments. We back ourselves and our chances, we do although a lot of other people don’t,” Bavuma said with his trademark determination.

In terms of the surfaces they will play on, South Africa are expecting run-scoring to be even more difficult than it has been in the IPL on the same pitches.

“It’s hard to see the wickets getting any better because they will have so much traffic on them. As batsmen, we are expecting tough times on those decks,” Bavuma said.

While the top-order batsman said the thumb he fractured in the ODI series in Sri Lanka is still “not 100%”, he has been given the all-clear by the medical staff.

“I started batting a bit this weekend, just to feel it out. Everything is still on schedule and the medical staff are all quite happy with my progress,” the skipper said.

South Africa will quarantine for six days and their first match is on October 23 against Australia in Abu Dhabi.