South Africa captain Dean Elgar has slammed the Gabba’s first Test pitch as harmful and revealed he requested the umpires how for much longer the match ought to go till it was deemed unsafe.
Speaking after the six wicket-loss to Australia wherein 34 wickets fell inside two days, Elgar stated the inexperienced Gabba pitch was not an acceptable Test wicket and favoured the bowlers far an excessive amount of.
The Proteas had been bundled out for 99 of their second innings however it was late on the second day when Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje bowled a fearsome spell as Australia chased 35 for victory that Elgar quizzed the umpires.
Rabada took 4 wickets, together with Travis Head with a lifting supply, and Nortje bowled a sequence of thunderbolts that went flying over the wicketkeeper.
Elgar didn’t maintain again when requested his ideas on the floor, which is for certain to be the topic of a radical assessment from the International Cricket Council.
“You’ve got to ask yourself the question: Is that a good advertisement for our format? Thirty-four wickets in two days. A pretty one-sided affair I would say,” he stated.
“I am a purist of this format and we want to see the game go four or five days. The way it started to play with some seriously steep bounce with an old ball … you are on a hiding to none as a batting unit.
“I do not assume it was an excellent Test wicket.
“I did ask the umpires when KG got (Travis) Head out down leg. I said, ‘How long does it go on for until it potentially is unsafe?’ Nortje was bowling those short ones that were flying over our heads.
“I do know the sport was useless and buried. It was by no means to try to change (the consequence) or to place a halt to the sport.”
Elgar said he did not get a response from the umpires as Australia had only a few runs to win and he suspected they thought he was “taking the Mickey”.
The Proteas captain was asked post-match if conditions were dangerous at that point.
“Yeah, however the recreation was nearly as good as completed I assume. I’m positively not going to say it was unsafe,” he said.
Pat Cummins disagreed with his counterpart’s assessment.
“If you are going to lose the match, you’d in all probability attempt something, would not you?” Cummins stated.
“It was nice. There was some sideways motion, somewhat little bit of up and down bounce however … there is not any balls leaping off a size or something like that.”
The Australian captain conceded the strip was “actually difficult”.
“Two days in all probability is not splendid,” he stated.
“Lots of sideways motion and at this time somewhat little bit of up and down bounce as properly. Personally, I sort of do not thoughts when the groundsman errs on the greener aspect sometimes.
“I’ve played a lot of Test matches when they’ve erred on the flatter side so I think it was the same for both teams.
“No means (was it harmful), it was nice.”
It was what transpired earlier in the match that concerned Elgar as he was asked about the divots in the pitch.
“It was attention-grabbing to see how rapidly this one did begin divoting and the way rapidly the ball sped up, particularly the brand new ball. Also at this time the older ball was flying by means of which should not be taking place,” he stated.
“The divots positively had fairly an enormous position to play particularly with the sideways motion. Obviously the ball had that steep bounce which was fairly one thing to face.”
