Prince demands situational awareness as Proteas face steep Kingsmead equation

Rowan Callaghan|Published 1 hour ago

Seven South African batters reached double figures on day three of the opening Test match against Australia at Kingsmead, yet not a single one managed to raise his bat for a half-century.

It was a maddening story of self-inflicted setbacks for the Proteas, whose first-innings total of 284 left them trailing Australia by 106 runs before the visitors reached 33/0 – stretching their overall lead to 139 – before bad light brought an early end to play.

Addressing the media after the close of play, South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince pointed to a crucial missing ingredient in the Proteas' top order: situational awareness and the ability to weather Australia’s fast-bowling surges.

"We could have been better sometimes at sensing the intensity of the opposition and reading the state of the situation," Prince admitted.

"Pat Cummins is an astute captain, and when there’s a sniff he’s going to push his fast bowlers to keep going. Just as a partnership looks like it’s going to wrestle advantage towards us, a wicket falls, and every time a wicket falls, it energizes their bowling attack and they feel they can push on a bit more."

The contrast between the two sides was highlighted by Matt Renshaw’s marathon 190 in Australia's first innings. While defending his players' intent to play on the front foot and use the sweep shot, Prince emphasized that surviving against Australia's core seam attack requires knowing when to take the sting out of the game.

"In terms of everybody's individual approaches, we talk a lot about playing positively on the front foot and playing spin really well where all the sweeps become options," Prince explained. "Two phenomenal catches obviously by Steve Smith ... sometimes those beat the field for four, and sometimes it takes a couple of blinders.

"But look at Australia's attack. They are heavily dependent on their three seamers, with Nathan Lyon holding one end up. They come with a certain intensity that can only last for a period of time. That's probably the biggest learning for the team: sometimes you've got to be able to absorb that intensity until you take the sting out of the attack – and then there are runs to be had."

Looking ahead to day four, with Australia leading by 139 and expected to press the run rate to buy time against the fading Durban light, Prince insisted South Africa’s comeback must start with an aggressive bowling mindset.

"Starting with a 100-run lead, we might see them coming out aggressively and putting team ahead of self to stretch the lead as quickly as possible," Prince said. "Taking wickets is the best approach for us – you’ve got to look to take wickets while controlling the run rate. They can afford to take a few more risks, so we’ll need to put the ball in their court and compel them to take us on."