South Africa news: Tour to New Zealand gets underway in quarantine

South Africa skipper Dean Elgar is not sure that the tour to New Zealand could take place were it not for some quarantine allowances.

According to the strictest interpretation of New Zealand’s pandemic protocols, South Africa could have faced a ten-day quarantine in isolation.

Elgar believes that would have had a devastating effect on the tourists.

“It would be impossible to get guys to tour here if they’re in quarantine for 10 straight days without leaving their room. That’s like jail.

“We’ve been treated well with regards to what we asked for.

“When the cricketing bodies work with government, they can definitely make it manageable, and they’ve tried their best to make things bearable for us because it would be tough doing nothing for 10 days.

“It’s not easy and If I wasn’t doing anything, I’d be climbing up the wall and jumping off the balcony, but the conversations have been had to make things easier.

“We do want to be here in New Zealand and play against them, but the touring team also has to be met halfway.”

The skipper feels that New Zealand’s attack doesn’t have the teeth that India possess.

“With respect, New Zealand’s attack are a little bit down on pace compared to the Indian attack,” Elgar said.

“In saying that, they execute their skills perfectly in their conditions.”

Elgar was delighted with the training facilities laid on at the University of Lincoln.

“The facility in Lincoln is brilliant and they have some very good practice wickets there,” Elgar said.

“We had a great turnout even though we were constrained with the time as we were given only a few hours.”

The captain suggested that the battle for the place in the XI vacated by Keegan Petersen would be filled by either Sarel Erwee or Zubayr Hamza.

“We’ve got Sarel Erwee – he has been with us for quite a few tours now – and he is the favourite,” Elgar said. “We also have Zubayr Hamza, who has come with a lot of South Africa A runs under his belt. It’s those two options for us at the moment. Sarel has been with us for the longest period of time. He is a great team guy and from a respect point of view, and pecking order, a guy like Sarel is ahead of Zubayr. That’s my opinion.”

The Proteas face New Zealand in the first of two Tests at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch from Thursday 17 February.

The World Test Champions will be without their skipper Kane Williamson. Williamson was ruled out with an elbow injury, meanwhile Tom Latham captains.

The Proteas arrived in New Zealand last week Friday and have little actual preparation time.

New Zealand have never beaten South Africa in a bilateral Test series.