Proteas must remain 'solid'- Faf
Proteas batsman, Faf du Plessis, says a ‘solid’ batting
performance is just what the struggling batting line-up needed on day three of
the second Sunfoil Test match against England at PPC Newlands.
The hard work is
far from over with a first innings deficit of 276 and 77 runs still needed to
avoid the follow-on, but the batsmen will take a much needed confidence boost
after their first consolidated performance in a while.
“We were behind the eight ball from day one, England played extremely well,” du Plessis said after a fighting unbeaten 51.
“It needed a really resilient performance from us to try and get back into the game and that’s what we did today. We didn’t score as quickly as England did but for us it was just to get back into the Test match, that was all we could do. To lose one wicket in the day is an extremely good effort from the batting unit. I’m really proud of Hashim (Amla), to get a big score like he did today, the team is proud of him.”
Achieving a result is not the priority at the moment, and batting on for as long as possible will be the objective with two days still to play. The platform will also give the younger batsmen to come like Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock an opportunity to build their innings without the added pressure and more importantly pile on some confidence.
“We are not a team that will sit here and say everything has changed and we are on top of the wave,” du Plessis admitted.
“We know that there is a lot of hard work still to be done. Consistency in batting is what we have achieved as a Test team over a long period of time so the only way we can quieten the critics is to be consistent. We still have a few young guys and it’s unfair to expect the world from them. They are new to Test cricket and they are going to learn. Hopefully we can be in a position tomorrow where guys like Temba and Quinton can come in and play their natural game without much pressure and once they are in a position to play their own game they can play with freedom which will be a lot easier.”
The possibility of achieving a result is still an attainable idea, but a lot will depend on how the batsmen respond on Tuesday.
“I think with England scoring such a big score in the first innings and at the rate that they did, it put us under a lot of pressure,” du Plessis said.
“For me tomorrow will just be about batting and batting at a rate that AB and Hashim batted at, just over three runs an over. The English bowling attack is experienced so you have to acknowledge that, I don’t think you can expect to go at five or six runs an over. Our plan will be to bat as long as possible and pick up the rate, if the Test match turns into a situation where we can do something to win then we will take it from there.”
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