England can hit back against South Africa by exposing batting frailty

After his side’s thumping victory at Lord’s last week the South Africa captain, Dean Elgar, praised his batting unit’s ability to score “ugly runs”. For a man whose own technique has been compared to a scuttling crab, this was a compliment of the highest order.

“We batted hard,” Elgar told the BBC. “We batted really gritty, ugly runs, which was kind of needed on a wicket that was not really batter friendly.”

Such a low-scoring Test – at 640 runs overall, the sixth-lowest in England in a decade – would suggest the surface had dialled up the challenge for those taking guard, but South Africa’s match-winning score of 326 was about par for a group coming to terms with its own limitations.

Only twice in the past two years have the Proteas managed a total north of 400. That is unsurprising considering no South African batter in the squad averages more than 40. Collectively they have averaged 27 in Tests over the past four years, better only than their counterparts from Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland.

At 19th, Elgar – who averages 39.60 overall in Tests – is alone among the top 20 global run-getters in that time with no other teammate in the top 30. This is a precipitous fall for an organisation that could once field Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers on the same scorecard.

“We’ve shown we’ve got a lot of great characteristics,” Elgar said before the start of this series. “We’ve shown signs that if we do things the right way we can score those big runs. We did it in New Zealand and in South Africa against India in tough conditions. Sure, we haven’t notched up the hundreds we want, but you’ve got to be mindful of the bigger picture.”

There are some caveats to the accomplishments Elgar cites. In New