South Africa batting coach expresses dissatisfaction over Cape Town wicket

Mohammed Siraj ran riot with a six wicket haul as hosts South Africa were skittled out for a paltry total of 55 in their first innings of the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday. Moreover, an astounding 23 wickets fell on the first day of the match.

Responding over the development, South African batting consultant Ashwell Prince expressed his disappointment over the pitch.

“I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one. As a batsman you don’t mind pace in the wicket if the bounce is consistent but the bounce was a little bit inconsistent,” said Prince said Prince, who played 11 of his 66 Test matches as well as most of his domestic career at Newlands.

“You expect a bit of seam movement on day one but seam movement with inconsistent bounce is a different situation. Sometimes it happens that a great bowling line-up bowls out a team cheaply but if both batting line-ups can’t bat there is something wrong,” he added.

Prince further said that the conditions had taken hosts South Africa by surprise.

“There was a bit of grass on the pitch but the tendency at Newlands is for it to take spin later on so it made sense to bat. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how the pitch would play,” he said.