South African newest Test captain Dean Elgar says that his side should return to the "South African" way of playing cricket, which included consistent performances as they look to start a new chapter after a lean phase.
South Africa all are set to tour West Indies for two Test matches and five T20Is. The two-match Test series will kick start from 10th June while the T20I series will begin from 26th June.
The side will arrive in St Lucia on Tuesday (1st June) where they will serve a three-day quarantine and after returning two negative COVID-19 tests they can will be allowed to train from the fourth day.
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Ever since head coach Mark Boucher took over as coach in 2019, the Proteas have played just eight Tests and have lost five of them.
The Test series will mark Dean Elgar captaining the Proteas side as the full-time Test captain after taking over from Quinton de Kock.
While addressing a press conference before departing ahead of the team's departure for St Lucia, South Africa’s Test skipper Dean Elgar said that the Proteas are in a new chapter and they need to play a more consistent nature of cricket. He added that they need to play in the ‘South African’ way.
"Now that we are in a new chapter, we need to play more cricket and better cricket. We are conscious that over the last period we haven't been very consistent.
"Our skill level hasn't been where it should be. We need to get back to a bit more of a consistent nature of cricket; a bit more of a South African way," Dean Elgar told reporters.
Elgar said that the Proteas need to get back to the 'South African way' where batsmen score big hundreds and fast bowlers deliver impactful spells.
He admitted that playing the 'Proteas brand' of cricket from a few years ago will be hard work but expressed his keenness to achieve it nevertheless.
“We've always had a batting line-up that has scored heavily. And fast bowlers. That's the South African way. We need to get back to scoring big hundreds and taking five-fors like it used to be.
"I feel like we can get the Proteas brand back to where it was a few years before. That will be my biggest goal. I know it's going to be hard work," he said.
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Elgar remarked that players need to trust their process going forward and added that it will be challenging to get the players to trust the process and adapt to it quickly.
“It's trying to change players' mindsets; to try and get that buy-in from every individual and to try and get them to trust your process going forward.
“One of the more challenging aspects of the job will be to try and get the trust of the players so that they can trust the process, to believe in the process and to do it quickly and adapt quickly. It's something I believe very strongly in,” he concluded.
(PTI inputs)
