Prince defends Proteas batters and encourages them to be themselves

WHEN a batting unit gets bowled out for 150 odd in the opening day of the Test match after winning the toss and opting to bat first, it is easy to cast stones at them. 

It is almost natural to look at the mode of dismissals and pose questions, 'Was the shot selection on point? Could they have opted for a safer option?'

When Wiaan Mulder was trapped lbw by Kuldeep Yadav off an attempted reverse-sweep, the very same questions were posed. 

However, in this day and age, batters are given a longer rope as Test teams promote positivity in terms of shot selection.

Players are encouraged to express themselves out in the middle.

Despite some of the shots that led to South Africa being bowled out for 159 in the opening day of the series opener at Eden Gardens, batting coach Ashwell Prince highlighted that they won't blame shot selection per se. 

"I wouldn't want to put too much blame on one particular shot. The reverse sweep was also the stroke that Wiaan used to get himself off the mark," Prince told the media on Friday. 

"We do encourage the batters to play their options, to back themselves, whatever their attacking options are, whatever their rotation options are, they've got to be true to themselves and play their game."

The conditions also played a role in South Africa's poor batting display, according to Prince.

After all, the second delivery of the day, from the hand of fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, kept low, signalling uneven bounce in the wicket. 

"One can argue that because you don't trust the surface as much in terms of consistency, perhaps it created some doubt about hitting the ball over the top," Prince said.

"Should I try to hit over the top? Is the bounce going to be low? Is it going to hit the bottom end of my bat?

"And perhaps that's what influences people's minds while they're out there. So that could have been either or."

The Proteas will have to sit and discuss the way forward as four days remain in the ongoing Test match in Kolkata.

Prince vouched that they would have to determine which shots to play according to conditions. 

"For sure, we'll have some discussions about which type of options we can take, more aggressive options. Every batter comes with his own mentality when it comes to the strengths," he said. 

"Everybody's got his own character and his own type of style that he brings to the game. Most of the time, we trust people to play within their character.

"But obviously, we have to take the surface into consideration. Next time around, or the second innings round, we have to play the conditions.

"These are the conditions, how can we be more effective on them? I'm sure we'll have a discussion around that."

The young Proteas batting unit would take a lot of lessons from their experience in India thus far, and will grow from strength to strength. 

After all, many of them were batting for the first time in Test match cricket in India and were facing some of the world's best bowlers in Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav.