Proteas need some hundreds, says Petersen

SA’s top order batters have to step up and get some big scores if they are to stand a chance of winning the three-Test series away against England, emerging batsman Keegan Petersen said on Tuesday.

The two countries are level at 1-1 after the opening two Tests, both of which were won by an innings and concluded inside three days. They meet at The Oval in London from Thursday in the final Test of the series.

SA’s bowlers decimated England in the first Test at Lord’s but were put to the sword in the second at Old Trafford in Manchester where the Proteas failed to score more than 200 runs in either innings.

“I think we need to get some hundreds up top, which hasn’t been the case for a while now,” said the 29-year-old Petersen, who made his Test debut last year and bats at No 3 for his country.

“The lower order have saved us a few times but I think it’s quite evident the batters have to step up now and get a couple of big scores. It’s all mental, it’s getting starts but then getting out that is a problem for us.”

There has been only one half-century contribution from the top six in SA’s batting order in this series.

On the mental approach, Petersen said SA had to prepare for a tough challenge. “At least try to fight through that dark period and that’s where you’re going have to challenge yourself mentally all the time,” he told a news conference at The Oval.

Petersen said he was hoping for a better contest between bat and ball after the first two Tests were dominated by strong bowing displays.

“I hope it pans out to be different because I’d love to play for five days, I think that’s what the public wants to see,” he said.

“But I must say this is what we live for as cricketers; series decider, it’s going to be thrilling. There’s a lot on the line for both teams.”

Both teams go into the match without key batsmen. England’s Jonny Bairstow suffered a freak leg injury playing golf and SA’s Rassie van der Dussen is nursing a fractured finger.

Both seam attacks are world-class, and for the third Test running it is likely that the bat — and who can get first innings runs — will decide the outcome.

Ben Duckett has been brought into the squad by England to replace Bairstow, but with Harry Brook already there, the latter could well be handed his Test debut, especially after he scored 140 off 170 balls for England Lions against the Proteas ahead of the series.

Brook might already have been under consideration to replace misfiring opener Alex Lees.

“I feel like I’d do a job batting anywhere, to be honest,” Brook told reporters. “But I do like batting five. If you spoke to other people about batting [there] they would probably say, ‘I don’t like it because I like to get out there straightaway’.

“But I like coming in [from the field] and chilling a bit.”

England are likely to stick with the same bowling attack that was so dangerous at Old Trafford, especially with the relatively lengthy 11 days between Tests, which have allowed the seamers to put their feet up.

The Proteas must find a replacement for Van der Dussen, whose injury has probably won out-of-form Aiden Markram a reprieve. It looks to be a straight choice between Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo, both of whom are inexperienced at Test level.

“Obviously we have to replace Rassie, so that’s a definite change,” captain Dean Elgar said. “But whether that’s the only change, we’ll have to see. The bottom line is we need runs from the middle-order and they have let us down quite a bit. The guys know it already.”

SA’s only win in 15 matches at The Oval was in 2012, when they claimed victory by an innings and 12 runs — the same margin as the first Test of this series.

Reuters