South Africa’s 4 quicks took 14 Australian wickets within the match, together with 4 within the profitable second innings chase of 34. Had South Africa scored “another 60 runs,” Elgar mentioned, they could have been in a position to declare the unlikeliest of victories. Still, Elgar believes they’ve proven the Australian line-up what they’re fabricated from.
“It was to try and open some old scars, to bring in our intensity and maybe get them three or four down so those batters go to Melbourne with maybe less confidence,” Elgar mentioned. “It worked out nicely. The result aside, it was one of the game plans that worked out for us over the last two days. I can’t say there were many.”
“It gives us confidence,” Elgar mentioned. “He is a massive figure for us, not just in our bowling group but in our 16-man squad. When he puts his hand up like that it’s difficult not to follow.”
Among Rabada’s victims was David Warner, whom he eliminated for a golden duck within the first innings and three within the second. Warner is the one batter Rabada dismissed twice within the match and he has now removed him six instances in seven Tests. Rabada concentrating on Warner seems to be a properly-deliberate tactic to reap the benefits of a participant in a hunch. Since his final Test fifty towards Pakistan in Lahore, Warner has scored 169 runs in 10 Test innings, and his common in 2022 of 20.61 is the bottom for a calendar yr in his Test profession.
But Elgar mentioned South Africa will not be particularly going after him alone. “It’s not just him. It’s all of them. We are always trying to find another way to have an edge over your opposition. If this was a way of getting into their minds further, brilliant. I know a guy like KG is the most feared bowler we have here, purely because of his reputation and record. If he has got that confidence running into the next Test, it’s brilliant for us.”
Elgar famous how the remainder of the assault reply when Rabada is at his finest. “What you find is that really got [Anrich] Nortje fired up as well and he was starting to crank it up even more,” he mentioned. “Hopefully that can inspire our batting unit to get their heads right and to knuckle down and get some performance under their belt for us.”
“I can’t see us hitting more balls and becoming better cricketers. We have played enough cricket in our personal careers and guys know their games really well, so hitting another 100 or 200 balls is not going to make you a better cricketer.”
Dean Elgar
“The guys in the change-room have played enough cricket to know this was one of those instances where we need to be honest and real about what’s just happened,” he mentioned. “It’s not like our guys were throwing wickets away. We were getting absolutely jaffered out and they bowled properly,” he mentioned. “That’s the way I will be approaching that. Coming into this game, our batters were confident. We prepared well and we played the warm-up game. It’s not like the confidence was low.”
With a week between video games, Elgar will not be demanding any additional nets or time with the analyst. “I can’t see us hitting more balls and becoming better cricketers. We have played enough cricket in our personal careers and guys know their games really well, so hitting another 100 or 200 balls is not going to make you a better cricketer,” he mentioned. “I speak from a personal point of view. It’s just one of those games where you failed. I am still confident going into the next one. We will definitely break it down and have chats. I would rather see the guys not do anything until we get to Melbourne. That’s just me.”
He additionally hopes they don’t get too wrapped up in their very own heads and benefit from the event of being in Australia over the festive season, which no South African workforce has achieved since 2008. “Guys need to tap into their mental spaces, which can be the biggest enemy, because you can really withdraw yourself instead of dealing with what’s happened and facing it,” he mentioned. “That would be my approach going forward.”
Asked if South Africa would take into account modifications to their XI, together with an additional batter, Elgar mentioned “all options are on the table,” however repeated his desire for a 6-5 break up, to accommodate the specialist spinner. “The option of 7-4 was a talking point but I like having a specialist spinner. We didn’t even get to day three let alone 4 or 5 where the wickets are going to spin so Kesh’s [Keshav Maharaj] role was nullified by the game being over in two days,” he mentioned. “I am still very much a captain who wants a spinner because he gives us a lot of control and allows our seamers to have a break where we can rotate them from one end but all options are open going into the next one.”
Elgar confirmed that if South Africa have been to incorporate an additional batter, “Theunis de Bruyn is the next batter in.”
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent