ENG vs SA: Dean Elgar Is Quite Straightforward - Anrich Nortje

South Africa pace bowler Anrich Nortje lavished praise on Test skipper Dean Elgar and mentioned about his support which helped him succeed in the first Test against England. 

South Africa defeated England by an innings and 12 runs in the first Test at Lord’s to carry on their brilliant run. 

South Africa take 1-0 lead in three-Test series

After picking a lead of 161 in the first innings, South Africa put the hosts right under pressure with early wickets in the second innings. Keshav Maharaj pinned Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope in front of the stumps before Lungi Ngidi forced Joe Root to edge one toward Aiden Markram at second slip.

It was all left to Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, the two influencers of Brendon McCullum’s Bazball approach, to bail the home side out of the muddle. It did look like Bairstow would just stamp his authority on Kagiso Rabada & co with the way he displayed intent in a couple of shots.

Just before the Yorkshire man could repeat his recent onslaught against New Zealand and India, Elgar brought Anrich Nortje into the attack. Although Bairstow slapped Nortje for a couple of fours, the South Africa pacer was persistent with his lengths, and it paid when he induced the outside edge of the batter.

Nortje finished the game with figures of 6 for 110 and supported Kagiso Rabada to blow off the English batting unit along and also their Bazball mantra.

Dean Elgar encouraged me to bring energy and bowl quick: Anrich Nortje

Nortje was thankful to his captain for being straightforward and encouraging the bowlers to bowl quickly with upteen intensity.

“Dean is quite straightforward. If he thinks you’re not playing your A-game, he’ll tell you and the whole team respects that. We need that. You need someone to tell you and not to beat around the bush,” Nortje told the reporters. 

“He will tell you if it is not good enough and at stages that is what happened. At stages he thought what I was doing was the right thing and he encouraged me to bring energy and bowl quick because that’s my job — to bowl quick, to try to bring energy and momentum for the team. It paid off here and hopefully, it pays off again but he does encourage me to try to express myself as a bowler,” he added. 

England and South Africa will play the second Test between August 25 and August 29 at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Also Read: We Would Have Loved To Have More Test Matches In The New FTP: Dean Elgar