Proteas hungry for victory, says Elgar ahead of England clash

Proteas captain Dean Elgar believes his side has enough firepower to put up a strong challenge against England in the second Test starting at Old Trafford, Manchester on Thursday (noon SA time).

Coming off the back of a convincing innings and 12 runs win inside three days at Lord’s, the Proteas will be looking for more of the same from their players as they try to secure a first series victory in England since 2012.

Though England were put to the sword by the Kagiso Rabada-led SA pace attack in London, Elgar remains wary of the threat England poses in their conditions, and says his side will not be resting on their laurels.

“What happened in that first Test was something amazing for us,” Elgar said on Wednesday.

“We have played sound, solid cricket, as we have done in the last year.

“The hunger was there and I think it is still here, I don’t think it is going anywhere, we drive a hard message with regards to that.

“It will be a lot tougher knowing England were hurt and they will be coming back with a vengeance,” the left-hand batsman said.

With the middle order still somewhat of a thorny issue in terms of finding the best batsmen, Elgar feels they have enough personnel to decide on who is best suited to fill those roles.

“We have extra resources, no doubt, but as long as we are getting the results, the backing is extremely important for those guys.

“We have given them a decent run of late, but I’m sure they know they are under pressure to perform, they are proper batsmen. They are here for a reason and, hopefully, they get everything going the right way for this Test match to put us in a stronger position.

“If they are firing in the middle order and we conduct ourselves the way we have been doing of late, our Test side can only grow from there.”

SA’s success in the longer format in recent years is backed up by having won four of the past six Test series in which they played, with victories over Sri Lanka, West Indies, India, and Bangladesh most recently.

They now sit at the summit of the World Test Championship (WTC) standings for the 2021-2023 cycle.

Asked for his thoughts about the release of the ICC men’s future tours programme and the fact that SA will play just 12 Test series over the next two WTC cycles, Elgar said if it were up to him, there would be more.

“I am sure each player can answer that question differently, but from my point of view, I would love to be playing more.

“I am not here to discuss that in depth because I’m sure I will get into hot water for saying something I’m not supposed to say. So, I will reserve my comment around that, but I am sure the guys would love to be playing more Test cricket for SA,” he said.