Proteas caught between the Lord's slope and the deep blue sea ... time to show positive intent

Positive intent. It’s normally something that is non-negotiable when it comes to Shukri Conrad’s coaching philosophy.

The Proteas mentor likes to play the game on the front-foot. He wants his charges to fight fire with fire and be aggressive on the field of play without doing something stupid.

So it must have been hard for the coach sitting on the Lord’s balcony wrapped up in his jacket on a cool London summer's day watching his batters trying to survive in the World Test Championship final against one of the best seam attacks the game has ever seen.

Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood were getting the new Duke ball to talk and do all sorts of things up and down the infamous slope at the “Home of Cricket”. 

At one stage just eight runs were scored during a tense 70-ball period, as the Aussies launched a fightback after being dismissed for 212 shortly after the tea break on the first day.

The Proteas ended the day in all sorts of trouble on 43/4 – 169 runs in arrears – after they were unable to combat Australians’ relentless attack with the ball.

The South Africans hardly landed a punch, never mind throwing one during their time at the crease. They just tried to survive, instead of trying something to get these Australians off their line and length.

As we saw in the first innings, trying to survive on this pitch is not the way to go, as Steve Smith showed during his knock when he counter-punched after the Aussies also lost early wickets.

But the Proteas under Conrad fought back from these situations on many occasions over the last year, coming back from a similar shaky start on a seaming pitch against Sri Lanka in Durban to win that match. The same thing happened against the same opposition in Gqeberha.

In those matches the Proteas counter-punched brilliantly, getting themselves off the ropes to land some telling blows which set up victories in both matches.

Of course, the Aussie bowling line-up is a lot better than Sri Lanka’s attack, but a similar mindset is needed to try and repair the damage that was inflicted in the last hour on the first day at Lord’s.

The Proteas have their best batsman in Temba Bavuma at the crease who can play that anchor role, but the three remaining recognised batsmen David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen are players who can be aggressive and try and play a few shots.

The Proteas have to make some sort of play to get close to the Aussies’ first innings score, because on this pitch there is a ball with your name on it. Rather try and score a few runs before that ball arrives.

The occasion also has something to do with the Proteas batters creeping into their shell, but now they must try and fight fire with fire. Show that positive intent that their coach has been trying to ingrain in their psyche over the last two years.

The Aussies need to be rattled, like they were with the ball. It’s time for the South African batsman to show that they are not just here to make up the numbers in this final.

@JohnGoliath82