Proteas brace for the unfamiliar territory of Hagley Oval

The Hagley Oval in Christchurch will be unfamiliar territory for SA, but Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar believes they will have enough time to get used to the conditions ahead of their first match against New Zealand.  

SA will take on New Zealand in a two-match series starting next Thursday.

The venue has become a fortress for the Black Caps as they have lost only once in their last 10 Tests there. Their  last four results were comprehensive wins over Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

“We are going to a place which is extremely unfamiliar to us,” Elgar admitted ahead of the team’s departure on Wednesday. “When I was last there with the Test side, we didn’t go to Christchurch. For me it is also going to be new. We are going there with a blank piece of paper and we can pretty much start afresh as a team.

“I think the one positive thing is that we have about two weeks before we kick off the Test series. It takes us two days to get to New Zealand and there are 10 days of quarantine, but we are allowed to practise into the second half of the quarantine period.

“And then leading into the first Test match, we have a few days to finalise things and get familiar with conditions, which I think is more than enough time for us to adapt to those conditions.”

The Proteas go into this series on the back of a morale-boosting 2-1 Test win over India, and Elgar says they want to continue building on that victory.

“We want to continue building on what we started a few months ago. We are creating something that is really good within our set-up, and from a playing point of view we want to build on that.

“We had a great series against the West Indies away from home; we had a great series against India and we know that going to New Zealand is going to be tough.

“In a two-match Test series you have to start well because if you start badly you basically take away the chance of winning [the] series. Personally, I am in a great space, I have had two weeks off where I haven’t touched my bat and my bag.

“I have just opened my bag now to see what’s in there so that I can pack what I need. I have had two weeks of reflection on what happened with regards to the Indian series. I am keen and looking forward to get going again after spending time with the family,” he said.

“It is exciting times for us to be travelling again, be it in pretty tough circumstances within the rules and regulations in New Zealand, which we have to adhere to.

“It is perfectly fine and we will do that. We are pretty excited to have another Test series under way. It is pretty foreign but we will have time to get used to the conditions and kind of see what stats on the ground look like and use that in our favour.”