London — South African batsmen have been dismissed 102 times in SA’s past six Tests‚ starting with the match against New Zealand in Dunedin in March. But only twice have they been able to raise their bats to acknowledge the crowd’s appreciation for a century as they’ve walked off‚ and both times he has been Dean Elgar. Elgar made 140 in the draw in Dunedin and 136 at The Oval‚ where England beat SA by 239 runs in the third Test on Monday to take a 2-1 series lead. Two out of 102? That gives SA a century-scoring percentage of 1.96% in the past five months. Might the problem be that SA have not played on a bona fide batting pitch in that time? All the surfaces presented to the team in New Zealand and England have tilted towards bowlers of various shades — not unfairly‚ but clearly. Swings and roundabouts‚ Russell Domingo said. "We don’t mind [more responsive surfaces] because it brings our bowlers into the game. "We feel that we are a very good side when the ball is doing a bit and we...
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