Johannesburg - Following their One-Day International series defeat to the touring Bangladesh side, South Africa will aim to make swift amends starting in the first Test in Durban on Thursday.
Here, IOL sport cricket writer Stuart Hess reveals what to watch out for in the first Test.
ALSO READ: A season of highs risks a flat ending if the Proteas don't beat Bangladesh
START
The Proteas are notoriously slow starters in any series. It’s something the Boucher/Bavuma/Elgar era inherited from predecessors, but it’s a problem they haven’t resolved. The awareness about the problem exists, they certainly get reminded about it enough through the media and they talk about it in team meetings. That first hour, of the first session on the first day, will be well worth seeing how they turn those words into deeds
CONDITIONS
It’s now become tradition that Kingsmead is low and slow (Shaun Pollock still sheds a tear) but Keshav Maharaj mentioned on Wednesday that the first Test will be played on a relayed part of the square so he was unsure how much spin there’d be. The Proteas continue to mull over the composition of their starting side, especially whether to pick two frontline spinners, something no South African team has done for a home Test in the post-isolation period.
SUBCONTINENT
Bangladesh couldn’t have asked for better venues at which to face South Africa. The Proteas have won just one of their last nine Tests in Durban. The other three sub-continent teams have each won a Test at Kingsmead, with Sri Lanka doing so twice. Can the Tigers follow in their neighbours’ footsteps? Confidence won’t be an issue and they will feel now is the right time to tackle the Proteas who will be vulnerable without their frontline pace attack and feeling low after losing the One-Day series.
IPL
Will certainly be hanging over the first Test (and most likely be on the TVs in the changeroom at the end of play). That competition has removed South Africa’s pace attack, while the rock in the middle order Rassie van der Dussen is also unavailable. This is also just the start with the IPL likely to cause more schedule problems in the future, South Africa will have to rejig its calendar.
"The excitement and hunger levels are up there because of the experience of what happened not too long ago - #Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar ahead of the opening #BetwayTest against Bangladesh 🏏#SAvBAN #BePartOfIt | @Betway_za pic.twitter.com/idhXbsuyBH
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) March 29, 2022
PROTEAS BATTING
With only Van der Dussen absent, the batting isn’t as affected by the IPL as the bowling. Certainly South Africa’s top 3; Elgar, Erwee and Petersen, look pretty strong, despite the last two’s lack of Test experience. There should also be the opportunity to see Ryan Rickelton finally make a debut and hopefully his overall form this season, will lead to success in the Test arena.