Dhaka – South Africa would be forgiven if they were not fans of Scottish rock band “Wet Wet Wet” on this tour of Bangladesh for that’s all they been getting for the past week, which is sopping, drenching wet.
The monsoon rains have been relentless in these parts making travelling between cities virtually impossible and once hopefully arriving at the desired destination, the only sights and sounds the players have been privileged to have been that of the pictures hanging on the four walls of their hotel rooms.
Even when the opportunity arose to spend some time outdoors yesterday – the first training session before Thursday’s second Test in Mirpur – the elements forced the Proteas back indoors shortly after a quick game of foot volleyball on a soggy Shere Bangla National Stadium outfield.
“It's very frustrating for us at the moment, especially after Chittagong, it looks like the rain followed us here or it's been here as well,” Proteas opening batsman Dean Elgar said. “It looks like we are never going to play cricket again here!”
Elgar’s tongue-in-cheek assessment could though be accurate, at least for this week, due to the forecast not providing any sort of relief. Eighty percent rain is being predicted for the opening two days – Thursday and Friday – before becoming even gloomier over the weekend with thunderstorms expected.
Being professionals, the players will all sing from the same hymn sheet in regards to 'controlling the controllables', which Elgar alluded to yesterday, but there is no doubt that the persistent rain is mentally taxing on a group of individuals that thrive on stretching out their limbs and getting stuck into the respective tasks.
Physical preparation for this second Test though will unfortunately be confined to the gym and indoor facilities at the SNBS, leaving South Africa’s on-tour “entertainment committee” with an equally important job in ensuring the players are psychologically in a good space should play actually get underway on Thursday and beyond.
“It's very important to switch off from the game totally so when you have your time off you try and not think about cricket too much,” Elgar said. “When it's practice and game time, you switch back on. You can't be playing the game in your head the whole time. It's quite exhausting when you are always thinking about the game.”
With the expected limited time available to conjure up a result, the pressure though will only increase on the World's No 1 Test unit to leave Bangladesh on positive note. The tempo of the game will certainly need to increase with batsmen being forced into an attacking mode from the outset and bowlers having to change their lines and lengths in the search for 20 wickets in the quickest possible time.
Elgar, however, is wary of such a mindset and believes the purest form of the game deserves the required respect, regardless of a situation dictated by weather.
“There is a process that we have been through over the last five years that has gotten us to the number one position,” he said. “We won't look too far ahead, but if we follow that process the result will look after itself. If we do the key areas and elements of the game well there is no reason we won't come out on top. We are lucky that we have an experienced squad, each player knows what is required of him. It's unfortunate that it's raining but we can't do too much about that.”