South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince blamed their struggles on “inconsistency of the bounce” and the “trust” deficit it created on a tricky Eden Gardens surface as India took the day one honours on day one of the opening Test here on Friday.
Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket burst ensured that South Africa collapsed from 57 for no loss to 159 all out in little over two sessions. “I think the signs were there pretty early on that the bounce is not consistent,” Prince said after the opening day’s play.
“Quite often what can happen is that when you expect batters to get to 20, 30 and grow in confidence, I don’t particularly believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bounce.”
Ashwell Prince
Prince said the erratic bounce prevented his batters from ever feeling settled, even after getting starts. “What can happen is that you don’t trust the surface as much as you should after spending an hour at the crease.”
South Africa began brightly through Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton before Bumrah’s spell (5-27) ripped open their top order and exposed a pitch where the strokeplay became uncertain.
Prince said India’s attack offered no breathing space. “Of course, when you face a quality bowling attack, they can more often than not get the ball in the danger area and it does too much for you. And unfortunately, that’s been the case today.”
South Africa were already handicapped without Kagiso Rabada, nursing a rib injury, and Prince admitted the team felt the absence acutely especially after watching Bumrah operate.
“Well, KG is a world-class bowler, probably one of the top two or three seam bowlers in the world. And we’ve seen what damage one of the other best seam bowlers in the world can do to that on that surface.”
“So he’ll definitely be missed on the surface because I do think it is actually aiding the fast bowlers.”
Bumrah’s impact, he said, showed how demanding the conditions were. “It was a sensational bowling display, particularly from Bumrah. Siraj in his first spell, not quite hit the steps, but came back in the second spell when he changed ends and was pretty good. But Bumrah was relentless and spinners were pretty good as well,” Prince said.
No discussion at all: SA not affected by ‘bauna’ remark at Bavuma
South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince on Friday played down the stump-mic chatter involving India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, saying the visitors will have “no discussion” around the incident during the opening day’s play in the first Test at the Eden Gardens.
The exchange happened on the last ball of the 13th over in SA’s innings when, at 62-2, a leg-before appeal from Bumrah against Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was turned down. During the conversation about whether to take the DRS, the stump mic picked up Bumrah saying, “bauna bhi hai,” a remark interpreted as a taunt about Bavuma’s height.
Prince, however, distanced the team from any controversy during the interaction. “No, there will be no discussion. It’s the first time, obviously, it’s come to my attention. I don’t think there will be any issues with what’s happened out in the middle,” Prince said at the post-day’s play press conference.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever