Woeful batting under spotlight, but 'frustrating' Proteas bowling has Elgar shaking head

While much of the reaction and frustration centred around South Africa's woeful batting in their massive first Test defeat to New Zealand over the weekend, skipper Dean Elgar will also be expecting more from his bowlers when the second Test gets under way on Friday. 

The Hagley Oval in Christchurch will again be the venue, and while it was considered a seam-friendly deck by most in Test one, that did not stop New Zealand from piling on a first-innings total of 482 that was 276 more than the Proteas could muster in both their innings combined. 

READ | Elgar left scratching his head after Proteas nightmare

It didn't help that Lungi Ngidi was ruled out on the morning of the Test with a back strain - he was replaced in the line-up by debutant Glenton Stuurman - while the Proteas also went in without spinner Keshav Maharaj. 

Stuurman was instead joined by Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier and Marco Jansen in a four-pronged seam attack that simply never got going. 

Rabada 2/113 (30)

Stuurman 1/124 (29)

Jansen 2/96 (29.5)

Olivier 3/100 (21)

Markram 2/27 (8)

The fact that Aiden Markram was the most impactful Proteas bowler says a lot about how tough it was for the visitors. 

While there were patches of good seam bowling, the Proteas struggled immensely with their consistency in lengths and, particularly, lines. 

As a result, the New Zealand batters were able to translate their intent in run-scoring whenever there was a delivery too straight, short or over-pitched, and the Proteas were unable to string together any periods where the runs dried up and pressure could be built. 

Maharaj might have helped in that regard, but Elgar would still of expected more of a bowling unit that was disappointingly flat for the bulk of the innings. 

"It's extremely