England vs South Africa: Dean Elgar on prioritising Kagiso Rabada’s fitness – It is high on our list
India Today
ENG vs SA, Test series: Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada hurt his left ankle during the T20I series against England, but has been bowling in the nets.
South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar has put emphasis on fast bowler Kagiso Rabada’s fitness ahead of the three-match Test series against South Africa. The first Test is set to get underway on August 17 at Lord’s and Elgar said that keeping Rabada fit for the upcoming red-ball series is one of the major priorities for the Proteas.
During the T20I series against the Three Lions, Rabada injured his left ankle, but has been sweating it out in the nets. The South African squad is currently taking part in a pre-series camp in Canterbury. From August 9 onwards, the visitors will also play a four-day practice match against England Lions at St Lawrence Ground.
"The workload is maybe the biggest concern, whether he can get himself throughout a test match with the intensity and obviously the volume of overs in a day's play. For now, he's doing all the right things, but I can't say 'yes or no' as yet. But it's high on our list to get him fit and giving us more resources going into the first test," Elgar was quoted as saying.
South Africa won’t be having key middle-order batter Temba Bavuma, who is recovering from an elbow injury. However, Elgar sounded pretty confident about the South African players and also lauded them for doing well in county cricket on English soil.
"I think the options are brilliant for us and I think we're ticking the boxes in the right way. Some of our guys have been doing well in county cricket and that's a massive asset for us going into this test series, just from knowing more about the conditions," he stated.
"Another thing we got is white-ball cricketers that have had a pretty successful series over here so far, they've got a lot of confidence coming into the tests and it's almost like a breath of fresh air having those guys come in, just knowing that they've done pretty well in the last month," Elgar added.
