Proteas players ready to go again after a period of soul searching and self-critique

The Proteas spent the past two days in soul-searching mode, reflecting on personal performances after their embarrassing defeat to New Zealand by an innings and 276 runs in Christchurch last week.

The humbling defeat means SA won’t win this two-match series, which is part of the ICC World Test Championship, and they will be playing for a draw during the final match at the Hagley Oval on Friday.

As they began their preparations for the second Test on Tuesday, vice-captain Temba Bavuma said the two days they got after the first match ended in seven sessions allowed players to look at themselves in the mirror and self-critique.

“To me (the past two days) were exactly for that, it was for guys to individually reflect on their performances and see how they can be better coming into the next game,” said Bavuma.

“We have had that conversation as a team and I guess today (Tuesday) is the start of how we can get better. Our conversations were all about honesty regarding our performances because what we produced out there in that two-day Test match was not good enough.

“That is not the standards that we pride ourselves in, we know that we have to improve in all three disciplines of bowling, batting and fielding and that was the conversation. Training will be around how we can be better.”

After a period of soul searching, Bavuma said players returned to training in good spirits and they are determined to right the wrongs in their mission to level the series 1-1.

“The guys are very happy at training and they are back to their smiles. They used the extra two days whichever way they wanted to but the main thing is to make sure that we are in a better physical and mental state to compete out there.

“It starts with us as the leadership group being honest and understanding that the performances that we put out there were not good enough. But at the same time it is about reminding the guys that over the last couple of months we overcame a lot as a team.

“The situation that we are in is not foreign to us, we know how to come back from behind and we also know how to bounce back when our backs are against the wall.

“One match does not make us a bad team at all because we know how we have performed over the last while. It is not just in Tests but looking in all the formats, there are a lot of positives that we can take as a team.”