Proteas batting coach Justin Sammons does not think the batters’ problem in England is mental, instead he believes it’s technical.
South Africa’s batsmen again failed to make an impact in the first innings of the deciding Test against England on Saturday, bowled out for just 118 runs - being 36/6 at one stage before Marco Jansen (30) and Khaya Zondo (23) helped get them over the three-figure mark.
But bowled stukkend throughout the series with not a single 100 by any of their batsmen, Sammons says: “If we knew the answer to [why we are struggling], we probably wouldn’t find ourselves in the position.
“The reality is the opposition bowled really well… “If we are hyper critical - the contact points, bat angles could have been better. It’s something technical we have been working on and continue to do so. We didn’t give our wickets away due to mental errors, it’s execution, on the day they were better than us. That’s generally been the case on tour, what we’ve been missing is partnerships - for that to happen, individuals need to make their starts count.”
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za