Elgar will retire from Test cricket.

2023.12.24

This is going to be Dean Elgar’s final Test series against India.

Once the India test series ends early next month, former South Africa captain Dean Elgar has declared his retirement from international cricket.

Elgar, who has played 84 tests and amassed over 5,000 runs with 13 hundreds, will play his farewell test at Newlands in Cape Town on January 3.

Elgar, 36, stated, “As they say, ‘all good things come to an end,’ and the Indian home series will be my last, as I have decided to retire from our beautiful game.” “It is my final test, the Cape Town Test. My all-time favorite stadium on earth. A location where, hopefully, I scored both my first and last Test run against New Zealand.

Elgar made his debut against Australia in Perth in 2011, making a duck in each innings in an inauspicious start to his 12-year test career, which has yielded 5,146 runs, including a high score of 199 against Bangladesh in 2017.

He has the eighth-highest test score in South Africa.

Elgar, who took over for Quentin de Kock as captain in March 2021, guided the Proteas to series victories against India both at home and in the West Indies, as well as a tie in New Zealand.

After a terrible tour of Australia a year ago, during which the opening averaged a meager 9.33 runs a game, Elgar was replaced as captain in February by Temba Bavuma.

Elgar led South Africa to third place in the World Test Championship last year with a memorable 2-1 home series victory over India while serving as captain from May 2021 to January of this year.

Pholetsi Moseki, CEO of Cricket South Africa, stated that Elgar had “represented his country with honour.”

“What really stood out were his grittiness and determination; these are traits that all South Africans can identify with.” In the era of power hitting, director of cricket Enoch Nkwe continued, “he is a real old-school cricketer that can dig in, absorb and fight.” I’m sure the game will miss him terribly.

“No matter the opposition, he has always sacrificed everything for his country and never shown fear.”

@charith