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Pretoria - Proteas vice-captain, AB de Villiers, says the team will need "more than just a big fight" to avoid defeat in the first Test against Australia at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
SA v Oz - Day 3 as it happened
The visitors put in another dominant performance against the Proteas on Friday, and have been unstoppable since the opening day.
" Its quite obvious that we are in deep trouble, there is only one team playing this Test match at the moment and its not us," he said after the days play. "Giving up just doesn't exist in the team culture that we have created over the last few years, Im certainly prepared to give it my best shot over the next two days.
" We know the declaration cant be too far away, their bowlers are in good form so we know what we are up against on a wicket that has been misbehaving," he continued.
" Once you get through the new ball, which is very important and something that we couldn't do in the first innings, it gets a lot easier. I felt quite comfortable from overs 35 onwards, we might be up against two new balls if we bat that far and that deep so its important to get through that."
De Villiers continued with his outstanding form with the bat, scoring his 12th half-century in consecutive Test matches. It was the fourth time that he fell in the nineties at the ground, and hopes he can go for the big score in the second innings.
The vice-captain was also the only batsman who managed to keep out the in-form Mitchell Johnson, and says it comes down to having a positive frame of mind.
" It kept it quite simple, " he said of his innings. " He is a world-class bowler and he came hard at all of us. He is an X-factor bowler; I kept it simple, watched the ball, tried to move quite early and tried to trust my instincts."
SA v Oz - Day 3 as it happened
The visitors put in another dominant performance against the Proteas on Friday, and have been unstoppable since the opening day.
" Its quite obvious that we are in deep trouble, there is only one team playing this Test match at the moment and its not us," he said after the days play. "Giving up just doesn't exist in the team culture that we have created over the last few years, Im certainly prepared to give it my best shot over the next two days.
" We know the declaration cant be too far away, their bowlers are in good form so we know what we are up against on a wicket that has been misbehaving," he continued.
" Once you get through the new ball, which is very important and something that we couldn't do in the first innings, it gets a lot easier. I felt quite comfortable from overs 35 onwards, we might be up against two new balls if we bat that far and that deep so its important to get through that."
De Villiers continued with his outstanding form with the bat, scoring his 12th half-century in consecutive Test matches. It was the fourth time that he fell in the nineties at the ground, and hopes he can go for the big score in the second innings.
The vice-captain was also the only batsman who managed to keep out the in-form Mitchell Johnson, and says it comes down to having a positive frame of mind.
" It kept it quite simple, " he said of his innings. " He is a world-class bowler and he came hard at all of us. He is an X-factor bowler; I kept it simple, watched the ball, tried to move quite early and tried to trust my instincts."
