South Africa’s struggling batting line-up is not going to be spooked by the prospect of one other full of life pitch for the second Test towards Australia.
The Proteas have been rolled for 152 and 99 in Brisbane final week, falling behind 1-0 within the three-match sequence after the Test lasted simply two days.
In their final six accomplished Test innings South Africa have failed to succeed in 200.
No.5 Khaya Zondo top-scored with an unbeaten 36 within the second innings however the Proteas’ inexperienced batters have been no match for Australia’s star quicks on a Gabba pitch the ICC rated as “below average”.
Last yr’s Boxing Day Test was over earlier than lunch on the third day and strain is on MCG curator Matt Page to ship a pitch that delivers a good contest between bat and ball.
But Peter Roach, head of cricket operations for Cricket Australia, was adamant there had been route to flatten out the MCG wicket following the categorical match on the Gabba and final yr’s bowler-friendly situations in Melbourne.
“You can’t play a game before you’re actually in it,” Zondo mentioned on Wednesday.
“Going forward and thinking what the pitch is going to be like, is it going to be bad or good, I don’t think that’s a good space for us as a team or batsmen to really think about.
“I don’t necessarily think they will prepare a pitch like they did last time because it’s been deemed below average so I’m sure there’s going to be an effort to make it more fair between bat and ball.”
Zondo, who’s coming off simply his third Test look, fought valiantly on the Gabba throughout the second innings after falling for a duck on day one.
“I just made sure that I watched the ball even closer and move a little bit quicker,” he mentioned.
“If you scored a 30 or 40 on that pitch, it was like gold.”
