Proteas skipper not worried about another clumsy batting collapse: 'I'm glad it happened'

A now familiar Proteas batting collapse will not be giving skipper Dean Elgar sleepless nights ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh starting in Gqeberha on Friday.

South Africa lost their last 9 wickets for just 88 runs in their second innings at Kingsmead and were indebted to the bowlers gaining the team a useful lead as well a decent start spearheaded by their gritty left-handed leader.

Mitigating that embarrassment to an extent is the fact that, bar Elgar and Temba Bavuma, the Proteas' specialist batters only boasted 21 Tests between them.

One of them, Ryan Rickelton, was making his debut and emerged with credit by making an unbeaten 39.

READ | Elgar ecstatic after breaking personal Kingsmead duck: 'I've caught quite a few hidings here'

"I'm not concerned, I'm actually glad it happened. You have to expose the guys to those kind of circumstances," said a typically forthright Elgar.

"It's the difference between scoring another 30 to 40 runs in a session. In conditions like this, where you possibly have only three sessions to bowl a team out, better batting line-ups will get through those sessions and the game will end in a draw.

"It’s about developing awareness and exposing the player to situations that promote that. Fortunately, we had a lot of runs in the bank but I certainly wanted to score more because that’s the style of cricket I want us to play going forward.  

"If your intensity is right, you’re batting will be at a higher level."

Steeliness and concentration were indeed the two factors that Elgar thought were conspicuously missing from South Africa's batting effort, not a lack of talent or technique.

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"Intensity is what we were lacking, I think a lot of guys still need to wake up and realise