No excuses, says De Zorzi, as Proteas batters aim to come to the party

After relying largely on the bowlers in the opening match, Proteas batter Tony de Zorzi admits the SA team’s top order are going to have to find a way to make a bigger contribution as they prepare for the second of two Tests against the West Indies starting at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

Though the hosts won the series opener by 87 runs, the Proteas lineup were criticised for collapsing to 116 all out in their second innings.

Relying on bowlers

Openers Aiden Markram (115) and Dean Elgar (71) got them off to a great start in their first innings, but the squad ultimately banked on pace bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who shared 14 wickets between them in the match to hold off the tourists.

And with Nortje set to be missing from the second game due to a groin injury, De Zorzi said yesterday the team’s batters would need to stand up if they hoped to secure a 2-0 series victory.

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“Obviously our performance in the second innings wasn’t ideal. They (West Indies) did bowl quite well, which isn’t an excuse,” said De Zorzi, who made 28 and nought in his Test debut in Centurion.

“Today we have a hard training session with Shuks (head coach Shukri Conrad) and Neil Mac (batting consultant Neil McKenzie) and all the guys will get together, have a meeting and discuss the things we’ve identified we can get better at.

“We want to build longer partnerships and take care of that new ball a little bit better.”

No excuses

While the bowlers led the charge in the first Test, De Zorzi refused to blame the pitch in Centurion.

“I think it was a decent pitch. There was a time there when Aiden and Keagan were batting that they looked like they were on a different wicket to the rest of us, and then obviously on a wicket like that there is going to be a ball that has your name on it, with it keeping up and down and with a lots of sideways movement,” he said.

“That will be part of the chats we have going into this next game, how we can apply ourselves better and combat those types of conditions.”