Gqeberha - The tours to England and Australia are in the past for the Proteas who are looking to start afresh against the West Indies.
The Test team is starting afresh now that new coach Shukri Conrad has taken over alongside new captain Temba Bavuma. The trips to England and Australia will still be a vivid memory for the players who were involved in those tours.
As a result of those two trips, a handful of players were dropped from the current Test squad. Nine players who were involved in the 2-0 series defeat in Australia were retained in the 15-player squad that will play the first home Test of the summer at Centurion.
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Bavuma emphasised the importance of moving on from what happened in England and Australia in order to give themselves a fair chance at improving going forward.
“No one died (as a result of the Australia tour),” said Bavuma.
“We went to Australia and got a good beating. With that there were lessons that guys took individually from it. It was quite hard to have a team de-brief on it because the management who were there, some of those guys are not here now. From a personal point of view, I went back and looked at areas I could work on.
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“Here within the Test team, guys would’ve dealt with the challenges that they faced. I also think that guys need to be kind to themselves and understand that Australia is another tough place to tour. That’s why people respect Australia for the country that they are.
“Another thing is not to hold on for too long to the trauma or that baggage. At some point you have to move on from it and I trust that the guys have done that.”
The Proteas will have another potent bowling attack that they will have to deal with and considering the seamer-friendly conditions on the Highveld, it will not be easy to score against the West Indies.
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