Ryan Rickelton insists the Proteas were not “heavily outplayed” despite suffering a 93-run defeat to Pakistan in the first Test in Lahore.

Chasing 277 for victory, the Test world champions were bowled out for 183 on day four.

Rickelton, one of South Africa’s standout batsmen with scores of 71 and 45, said the conditions made scoring difficult and required a calculated approach.

“The variability in the bounce made [batting] tough,” he said. “Trying to take risks on those horizontal-bat shots wasn’t really worth it for me.”

Instead of wholesale changes, the Proteas are focused on making small but meaningful adjustments.

“Ninety runs wasn’t a devastatingly massive loss, in my opinion. I don’t think we were heavily outplayed,” Rickelton explained.

“As batters, we had a lengthy discussion about finding a way to deal with their best ball. What does [our approach] look like between attack and defence.

“We don’t really want to give into the cliché that it’s more respectable to get out in a certain way, rather look to find a way [to score].”

He added that understanding the nature of the pitch will be key heading into the second Test in Rawalpindi.

“If the wicket is as bad as it sometimes can be – [and] it’s a matter of time [before you get a ball that dismisses you] — you have to find that balance between attacking and defending. We’ll train hard on that [before the match], and make peace with how the game is going to go.”

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Rickelton also brushed off Pakistan’s aggressive appealing.

“They’re under pressure to win at home. Their bowlers are expected to knock us over,” he said. “It might be a lot of noise but it’s in a foreign language, so I don’t understand a thing, and that makes it easy [to ignore].”

The second and final Test starts in Rawalpindi on Monday.

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