IND vs SA 1st Test | ‘We can’t trust the surface’: Ashwell Prince

South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince blamed their struggles on ldquoinconsistency of the bouncerdquo and the ldquotrustrdquo deficit it created on a tricky Eden Gardens surface as India took the day one honours on day one of the opening Test here on FridayJasprit Bumrahrsquos fivewicket burst ensured that South Africa collapsed from 57 for no loss to 159 all out in little over two sessions ldquoI think the signs were there pretty early on that the bounce is not consistentrdquo Prince said after the opening dayrsquos playldquoQuite often what can happen is that when you expect batters to get to 20 30 and grow in confidence I donrsquot particularly believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bouncerdquoAshwell PrincePrince said the erratic bounce prevented his batters from ever feeling settled even after getting starts ldquoWhat can happen is that you donrsquot trust the surface as much as you should after spending an hour at the creaserdquoSouth Africa began brightly through Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton before Bumrahrsquos spell 527 ripped open their top order and exposed a pitch where the strokeplay became uncertainPrince said Indiarsquos attack offered no breathing space ldquoOf course when you face a quality bowling attack they can more often than not get the ball in the danger area and it does too much for you And unfortunately thatrsquos been the case todayrdquoSouth Africa were already handicapped without Kagiso Rabada nursing a rib injury and Prince admitted the team felt the absence acutely especially after watching Bumrah operateldquoWell KG is a worldclass bowler probably one of the top two or three seam bowlers in the world And wersquove seen what damage one of the other best seam bowlers in the world can do to that on that surfacerdquoldquoSo hersquoll definitely be missed on the surface because I do think it is actually aiding the fast bowlersrdquoBumrahrsquos impact he said showed how demanding the conditions were ldquoIt was a sensational bowling display particularly from Bumrah Siraj in his first spell not quite hit the steps but came back in the second spell when he changed ends and was pretty good But Bumrah was relentless and spinners were pretty good as wellrdquo Prince saidNo discussion at all SA not affected by lsquobaunarsquo remark at BavumaSouth Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince on Friday played down the stumpmic chatter involving India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant saying the visitors will have ldquono discussionrdquo around the incident during the opening dayrsquos play in the first Test at the Eden GardensThe exchange happened on the last ball of the 13th over in SArsquos innings when at 622 a legbefore appeal from Bumrah against Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was turned down During the conversation about whether to take the DRS the stump mic picked up Bumrah saying ldquobauna bhi hairdquo a remark interpreted as a taunt about Bavumarsquos heightPrince however distanced the team from any controversy during the interaction ldquoNo there will be no discussion Itrsquos the first time obviously itrsquos come to my attention I donrsquot think there will be any issues with whatrsquos happened out in the middlerdquo Prince said at the postdayrsquos play press conferenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever