Brand takes tips from Elgar to help understrength Proteas in New Zealand

Dean Elgar may no longer be in the Proteas change room but his spirit will live on through Neil Brand, who headed to Christchurch — via Sydney — on Friday as captain of the much-maligned Proteas squad for a two match Test series against New Zealand. 

Brand is one of eight players in the squad who have yet to play a Test.

Speaking ahead of the team’s departure, Brand said he would take plenty of lessons learnt from playing alongside Elgar at his provincial team, the Northerns Titans, into his stint as Proteas captain.

“I’ve talked to Dean a lot, he has been massive for that whole (Titans) dressing room, he’s so professional. When I arrive at SuperSport Park in the morning, he’s already there and he lives an hour away. That is just a testament to his character.

Hopefully that has rubbed off on me,” said Brand.

The 28-year-old left-hand opener is certainly cut from the same cloth.

Taller than the older Elgar who retired from international cricket at the end of the India series, Brand does share Elgar’s toughness, willingness to fight and putting a high price on his wicket.

“To score runs in tough situations, I’ve seen him do it and it makes you want to do it as well. 

“Playing at the Titans makes you tough, especially opening the batting. That is something I have learnt batting with Dean — learning to score runs in tough situations.”

It is a trait he will demand from all the players in a squad whose chances of winning in New Zealand have largely been dismissed and whose selection has been described as signalling the death of Test cricket. 

The tour coincides with the SA20 tournament, which Cricket SA has prioritised, with all the nationally contracted players instructed to avail themselves for the league and others who aren’t regular members of the Proteas, but have been contracted by the competition, duty-bound to appear in it, even if they are seated on the bench the majority of the time.

“This tour has been spoken about a lot in the media, we are going there to compete and to hopefully win the series.

“I know people have written us off, but we are wearing the Proteas badge and we’re desperate to come back with something,” said Brand.

All the players have spoken of the value gained from the ‘A’ series they played in against West Indies last November, which allowed team spirit to be created.

“I was the only Titans player in that team, I didn’t know anyone — at least not on a personal level. After those three games, the team was so tight, the team cohesion was awesome, seeing everyone today was amazing, and I’m thankful for that.”

What the squad lacks in Test caps, they make up for with plenty of first class experience, with Brand mentioning it had been worked out that on average there were 96 matches per player in the squad.

Those numbers would have been boosted by the likes of David Bedingham, Dane Paterson and Duanne Olivier who have all played on the English county circuit, but even off-spinner, Dane Piedt, has 119 first class matches under his belt, while Brand has played 51.

He admitted the prospect of not only leading the team but also making his Test debut occasionally made him apprehensive.

“In the first few weeks of the season, you just want to do well for the Titans and hopefully get into contention for a place in the Test side. 

“Initially (when told of the captaincy), you wonder ‘wow, is this actually happening?’ Then it’s about taking it day by day.”

As for the captaincy itself, Brand said he’d spoken to Elgar and Albie Morkel about leadership, taken tips from observing teammates at SuperSport Park like Heinrich Klaasen, Grant Thomson and Sibonelo Makhanya, but didn’t want to take on board too much, lest it damaged his personal outlook.

“I don’t want to speak to too many people and then change the way I am captaining. I want to stay true to myself, I know this group of players, I don’t want to change and become this different person. I might lose the respect of the dressing room.”

The Proteas face New Zealand in the first Test in Mt Manganui from February 5.