Elgar feared repeat of Hughes tragedy after playing on Johannesburg pitch

Joshua Thomas

Elgar feared repeat of Hughes tragedy after playing on Johannesburg pitch image

Playing on an unpredictable Johannesburg pitch, South African batsman Dean Elgar has admitted he was worried a repeat of the Phillip Hughes tragedy could have happened in a Test match against India.

MORE: 'Dangerous' pitch slammed in Johannesburg Test

Elgar copped a wicked bouncer to the head on day three which saw play stopped early after a number of batsman had already taken hits on a pitch described as 'dangerous'.

While both teams and officials agreed that play would continue the following day, which saw South Africa fall to a 63-run defeat, Elgar clearly thinks more caution should have been taken.

“On day three, the wicket didn’t play great. Batters got hit a hell of a lot of times. If there was a period to call it off, it was sooner,” Elgar said.

“We had an incident of being hit in the head, where we could have had an incident of what happened in Australia.

“People want to watch Test cricket but we are also human beings - the situation could have been addressed earlier.”

Former West Indian quick Michael Holding was in commentary for the match and was particularly critical of the pitch after day three.

"They should have come to a conclusion earlier in the day that this is dangerous," Holding said.

"This is not just a difficult pitch. It is not playable for proper cricket.”

 

 

Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.