Zondo bewildered by umpires' call to play on in the dark

Proteas batter Khaya Zondo believed the final session of play on Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) should have been halted because of bad light, hinting that the umpires' failure to do so cost him his wicket.

Zondo was trapped lbw by a full and fast delivery from Australian captain Pat Cummins, which came amid a terrific spell that was bowled in heavily overcast conditions.

The on-field officials, Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney had taken the players off the field on day one when conditions in Sydney were also murky.

On that occasion they offered Dean Elgar the opportunity to continue play if he bowled his spinners.

That didn’t occur on Saturday, with Cummins continuing to bowl and Zondo felt the same measures should have been used as on day one.

“It was dark, that’s what I felt.”  said the middle order batter. “He (Cummins) is not slow is he?”

Asked if the umpires should have taken the players off the field, Zondo let out a lengthy sigh. “Can I leave it at that,” he chirped.

In addition to the conditions, Zondo also felt upset that the television official, Richard Kettleborough had overlooked evidence of his bat possibly touching the ball in his dismissal.

Zondo had sent Gaffaney’s on-field decision for review but it was upheld by Kettleborough, who felt the Proteas batter hadn’t hit the ball.

“There was a spike (on the snickometer). I don’t want to go on about it. The decision is made, it is what it is.”   

Zondo top scored with 39 as part of another dismal batting display from the Proteas who were on 149/6 at stumps on day four, still needing to make another 126 to avoid the follow-on.

Australia had declared their first innings on 475/4, with opener Usman Khawaja on 195*.  

Skipper Elgar struggled again and was dismissed for 15 caught down the leg-side for the third time in the series, as he got himself in a horrible tangle against a short ball from Josh Hazlewood.

Zondo said Elgar hadn’t shown any visible signs of frustrations in the dressing room, and backed the beleaguered captain to turn things around.

“He’s been in good spirits. I’ve been a captain at domestic level and I know what it can be like. If you are doing it at international level I’m sure it is 10 times heavier, but he is handling it well,” Zondo said. 

“You can see he’s experienced at this level, and he knows the wheel will turn and he’s got to stick to his processes. The team will also gather more experience and come right at some stage. The sun will shine eventually, it won’t stay like this forever.”

He added the team retained the belief they could save the match on the final day.

“We’ve got the day to bat, I’m sure we've done that before and I’m sure we’ll be able to do it tomorrow.”

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