David Lloyd supports South Africa's decision to bat first in Manchester Test
David Lloyd [PC: Twitter]
The first day of the second Test between England and South Africa saw truckloads of wickets falling for a handful of runs. Dean Elgar's brave call to bat first on a spicy pitch backfired the visitors badly, as they were dismissed for a paltry 151 in their first innings.
However, former English batter and legendary broadcaster David Lloyd has voiced in favour of the Proteas' decision. Addressing himself as an old-school bloke, Lloyd said that South Africa were spot on in opting to bat first and all they needed to do was to get through the morning session and capitalize on the favourable batting conditions in the latter half.
Lloyd, who represented England in 17 international matches, further predicted that the visitors would get benefitted from Simon Harmer's presence as the track would offer considerable turn to the spinners with the game's progression.
"I still say South Africa were correct to bat first after winning the toss. There was cloud cover and the ball moved around but the key at Old Trafford is to get through the first morning and then make hay,"
"It will turn here later and South Africa have included a second spinner in Simon Harmer."
Anderson picked three wickets [PC: Twitter]
Opting to bat first on a seaming pitch against a top-class bowling attack was indeed a brave call. But considering the surface, we feel it was tactically incorrect to revolve the entire game plan around the spinners. All we can say is it was a massive risk, which ended up giving England an upper hand in the game.
 "Debashis Sarangi")
