Protea batting has Elgar worried as Aussies loom

South Africa's fragile Test match top six has been exposed by a bowler-dominated 2-1 series defeat in England.

Touring captain Dean Elgar has admitted he is concerned ahead of their next five-day assignment in Australia in December, which he said "is going to be huge."

South Africa made 326 in their only innings at Lord's in the first Test but did not manage a score above 179 in their next four visits to the crease as Elgar conceded their brittle middle order is letting the side down.

They used every batter in their extended touring party in the series, but only Sarel Erwee managed a single half-century.

Bowler Marco Jansen topped the batting averages with 27.33 while Elgar himself made 107 runs at 21.4, bizarrely walking to an LBW appeal in his final innings that ball-tracking replays showed to be comfortably missing the leg stump.

"I always bank on experience and we don't have that at Test level," said Elgar, the only batter to have played Test cricket in England before this series.

"The next best thing is who do we have with experience in first class cricket back home? Is that the right solution, we don't know yet.

"We have a few months before our next series but we only have a handful of four-day games before then."

It is a far cry from when Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers used to dominate bowling attacks home and away as South Africa rose to No.1 in the Test rankings.

"The new players have had to learn in the toughest format with not a lot of experience around them, which is something we were always aware of because of the amount of guys we had retire back-to-back," Elgar said.

South Africa do have Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen on the injury list and they are likely to return for the Australia series, but such is the team's predicament there could be as many as five places in the top six currently up for grabs.

"It is about getting runs, that's our currency as batsmen," Elgar says. "It's tough when the guys are not getting numbers on the board for you. Sooner or later you have to look elsewhere."

South Africa dropped Aiden Markram for the Oval Test, and with van der Dussen injured brought in Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo but they made 11 & 8 and 23 & 16 respectively.

"It's a tough one when guys aren't getting numbers on the board for you," Elgar said. "Sooner or later, your resources are going to be depleted and we are going to have to look elsewhere. We did the right thing for this Test match. We had to use the resources we had, something different, something new, you don't know if you don't give them a try."

South Africa will also have a new coach for their Australian Test tour, with Mark Boucher to leave his post after the T20 World Cup to pursue "other opportunities in line with his future career and personal objectives".

Former wicketkeeper Boucher, who played 147 Tests for South Africa, has been in the role since December 2019 and had been contracted until the end of the 2023 50-over World Cup in October next year.

"We would like to thank Mark for the time and effort he has invested in South African cricket as the head coach over the past three years," Cricket South Africa CEO Pholetsi Moseki said.

"He has helped navigate us through some rough waters following the departures of so many senior players through retirement and has helped lay some strong foundations for the next generation of Proteas."

In May, CSA charges of gross misconduct and racism against Boucher were formally and unreservedly withdrawn. They related to allegations involving his former teammate Paul Adams and an investigation into the resignation of his former assistant coach Enoch Nkwe.

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But both Adams and Nkwe decided against giving testimony, leaving CSA to conclude that there was "no basis to sustain any of the disciplinary charges", as Boucher was allowed to continue as head coach.

Nkwe, now CSA director of cricket, said of Boucher's impending departure: "We are deeply saddened by Mark's decision to leave us but we also understand and respect his wishes. He is a Proteas legend and has done so much for the game in our country, both on the field and over the last three years off it."

Boucher has generally won praise for improving South Africa's Test and white ball cricket, though the recent five-day series in England was woeful for the batsmen with no quick fix to that problem in sight.

The highlight of his tenure to date was a home Test series win over India in January, which has helped South Africa reach second place in the ICC Test World Championship table.

Men's Test Series v South Africa

Dec 17-21: First Test, the Gabba, 10:20am

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10:30am

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10:30am

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