Heavy rain on Sunday morning left the Kingsmead outfield patchy, muddy and unsafe and despite three days of fine weather there’s been no improvement.
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“I can honestly tell you that we were dying to get out there”, Du Plessis said.
Lorgat did not comment on the timing of the work on the ground, which happened in June, but said similar work at SuperSport Park in Centurion, venue of the second and final Test starting on Saturday, had been successful.
“New Zealand were in a spot of bother on a wicket which was giving a lot of assistance”.
Playing test cricket in winter is risky enough without bringing other factors into the mix. But we respect the decision.
Lorgat said the Kingsmead outfield had been re-laid following complaints by players when a Twenty20 global and a one-day worldwide were played at the ground in August 2015, also involving New Zealand.
Du Plessis said opening bowlers Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, both returning after injuries, had been outstanding in the six overs each which they had bowled.
“From a batting point of view we were challenged.in some tricky conditions and that’s going to be good for us moving forward”, he said. We were disappointed not to get around 350, that would have been par on a wicket like that after we got ourselves into positions where we just needed one guy to bat a little bit longer for a 75 or 100-plus score.
The debacle will now place the spotlight on Cricket South Africa’s decision to play the game at Kingsmead, with no play possible for three days despite no rain.
“Even from the time we arrived here, we knew that the outfield was in a poor state and it obviously didn’t cope with the rain”.
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The outfield failed to recover from a heavy downpour at the end of day two, when New Zealand closed on 15 for two in reply to 263, with the final day abandoned more than 30 minutes before it was due to start.
