No warm-up game for Proteas? 'It's a very weak excuse', says Elgar

Proteas skipper Dean Elgar says it would have been "nice" to play a warm-up match ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, but the Proteas knew the situation before arriving in the country. 

South Africa were poor in every department as they were thrashed by an innings and 276 runs in Christchurch on Sunday. 

The nature of the strict coronavirus protocols in New Zealand meant that the visitors spent nearly two weeks in isolation, with limited training allowed, before they took to the Hagley Oval turf on Thursday. 

Elgar and the Proteas had said in the build-up to the match that the training facilities provided were ideal, and while he would not point to the absence of a warm-up fixture as an excuse, he did acknowledge that it would have helped.

"I think it would have been nice to have a warm-up game. It would have given us a bit more of an indication in terms of the playing capacity," he told media after the match ended inside seven sessions on Saturday.

"It's one thing training at facilities and you almost give yourself a bit of a blueprint coming into a Test, but we all know that if you try and replicate a match, then you get a clearer vision of what is expected from a conditions and playing point of view.

"I'm not going to sit here and use quarantine as an excuse. I've always echoed that we are a professional set-up and here to represent our country, and ultimately we need to be firing by the time match day comes.

"People might have different versions with regards to this question, but I don't see it as an excuse for us. If it is an excuse, it's a very weak excuse to be using.

"We knew we had to respect the rules and regulations of New Zealand when we came here. It was a known fact and something to get over and work