Cape Town - Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar has dismissed the allegations that his team over-stepped the sledging line during the first Test at Kingsmead last week, suggesting Bangladesh “need to harden up”.
This was in response to the Bangladesh Cricket Board lodging a formal complaint to the International Cricket Council over claims of biased umpiring and "unbearable" sledging.
BCB cricket operations chief Jalal Yunus was particularly upset with the Proteas’ behaviour towards opening batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy, claiming it was “deplorable”. The 21-year-old struck a career-best 137 in the first innings.
Elgar claimed his team would never “go out there and intentionally try to intimidate a young player” and that “we were just giving them back what we were receiving”.
“I don’t think they (sledging allegations) are justified. Especially in terms of the South African side,” Elgar said on the eve of the second Test at St George’s Park.
“Look, we play the game hard, if anything we were just giving back what we were getting when we were batting. This is Test cricket. This is a man’s environment when it comes to playing at this level. I intend to play the game hard.
“But by no means did we swear or use foul language towards the Bangladeshi cricketers because we still respect them in that nature. We were just giving them back what we were receiving.
“I just think they need to harden up and play the game at a level that they are maybe not used to. I honestly didn’t see any bad sledging out there – even from their side. I just think this is Test cricket and we need to dry out our eyes sometimes.”
Elgar also pointed out that the television cameras do not pick up everything that often plays a part in the build-up to major incidents.
“There are a lot of things you don’t see. So you have to bear in mind those instances happening off camera as well,” he said.
“We won’t go out there and intentionally try to intimidate a young player. We play the game at a hard level, but we are not there to intimidate through language rather than skill.
“When I started Test cricket it was a lot harsher than it is now. You were told everything about yourself that you did not want to know about yourself. I think we’re playing a tough format, we're playing for our country, and we want to win.”
The Proteas skipper also defended umpires Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock after the Bangladeshis claimed it was time the ICC reverted to neutral umpires again. Local umpires have been in use since cricket’s resumption after the Covid-19 hiatus in 2020.
“Umpiring was tough (at Kingsmead),” Elgar said. “I don’t think the wicket helped in terms of the invariable bounce which can challenge the umpire’s decision and I am sure their discretion could be interpreted differently.
“I feel for them because they are really good umpires, and Marais has been Umpire of the Year, and Adrian is obviously starting off in the Test arena, and he is definitely not a bad umpire. The human factor needs to be spoken about here, they are human beings, and they do make errors, as do the players. I am pretty sure they are going to learn from that.”
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