Former Proteas bowler Johan van der Wath says a third-string South African team failed to show fighting spirit in the first Test against New Zealand.

A Proteas XI featuring six debutants suffered a crushing 281-run defeat in Mount Maunganui.

No players participating in the SA20 franchise tournament, which ended on Saturday, were available for selection.

“Ruan de Swardt bowls at 115 km/h as a seam bowler. It’s just not good enough at this level,” Van der Wath told Rapport newspaper. “Zubayr Hamza has been used so often and so many times he has been found wanting. Duanne Olivier has returned from [English] county cricket and is no longer good enough.

“But what makes me angry is that the team just laid down in the second innings. There was no courage and fighting spirit. Take what Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers did in 2012 in a Test against Australia [when they faced a combined 596 balls to force a draw in Adelaide.] In the first Test [against New Zealand], there was little of that SA tenacity to be seen.

“David Bedingham did bat well, but was caught off a failed pull. Likewise, Keegan Petersen and Hamza fell into the same trap. We just gave up.”

Van der Wath said Temba Bavuma and the recently retired Dean Elgar should both have been in New Zealand.

“[Bavuma] played a single game for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape [in the SA20], and should have led the team in New Zealand.

“I am also angry because two players are out of the Test squad because of personal differences with [coach] Shukri Conrad, and that is Dean Elgar and Heinrich Klaasen.

“If Dean was in New Zealand, he could have made a big difference with his fighting spirit, and he wouldn’t have allowed the other players to throw away their wickets like that.”

OPINION: Proteas performance exposes domestic cricket

Photo: Joe Allison/Getty Images