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Proteas wicket-keeper batter Kyle Verreynne has downplayed the team's capitulation as they were bowled out for less than 200 for a seventh straight innings at the MCG on Monday.
South Africa managed a total of just 189, thanks largely to a sixth-wicket stand of 112 runs between Verreynne and Marco Jansen, who notched up a maiden Test half-century.
The 25-year-old, who chipped in with 52 runs, admitted the surface was vastly better than what they experienced at The Gabba, with the key to his partnership with Jansen down to a simple psychological approach.
"I think this wicket probably played a bit better than the previous Test. I think what myself and Marco managed to do was just get through those first 20-odd balls – I think that's probably where we fell short in the earlier partnerships, just that initial period," said Verreynne.
"I think day one Test wicket is always going to be tough when you come in, and unfortunately most of the batters didn't really manage to get past that.
"But I felt like myself and Marco put an emphasis on that first 20 balls, and then once we got through that, it [the partnership] played really nicely."
On the crumbling of the top order once again, the wickie insists while the scorecard doesn't make for good reading for the South Africans, the batsman are ready to back the bowling attack in Day 2 and then bounce back in the second innings to turn the tables.
"I think today is probably a bit harder to accept than the previous six innings. I think if we look back at those games, if I remember correctly – at least from our point of view, there were a lot of good balls and good bowling," he added.
"We sort of stuck to our game plan and unfortunately the bowling was able to undo us, but I felt like today was probably the first time in the last couple of games that we've had more soft dismissals than not, and that's probably the disappointing thing.
"But the batters are still in a good place, I know it probably doesn't seem like that to the public but behind closed doors, the work we've been putting in has been really good.
"Our preparation has been really good, the conversations we've been having have been really positive, so we've still got that belief. We've just got to back our bowlers now to do a job and then hopefully we can sort of back them up in our second innings."
