South Africa's Dean Elgar speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the third and deciding Test match against England at the Oval South Africa's Dean Elgar speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the third and deciding Test match against England at the Oval. Picture: Andrew Boyers, Reuters
Johannesburg – What’s Dean Elgar’s perspective on the third Test against England that starts Thursday? “It’s the biggest Test I’ve been involved with since I took over as captain,” he said.
Then he added: “I think the players sense that.”
He didn’t stop there. “It’s like a World Cup final for us, that’s how I’m viewing it.”
The importance and enormity of this match is clear 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦
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South Africa will play fewer Tests in the next few years and after this summer’s series Down Under, play their next three-match Test series in four years’ time. Test matches will become incredibly rare and for someone like Elgar, who is not involved in the limited overs formats, it means each match is extremely valuable.
“You’ve got to play every Test like it's your last,” he said in the indoor training centre at The Oval on Wednesday.
The final Test of a strange series will have an enormous bearing on South Africa’s qualification for an actual cup final — that of the World Test Championship which will take place in England next year.
While the Proteas would still remain in second place behind Australia, even if they beat England, it would increase the gap to third place Sri Lanka, and relieve some of the pressure for that series in Australia later this year.
Elgar is aware of that, but is putting greater emphasis on claiming a slice of history for himself as just the third Proteas captain — after Hansie Cronjé and Graeme Smith — to lead the side to a series win over England in the post-isolation era.
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“This is huge, it’s massive for us. I’ve never experienced a Test series win against England in my 10 years in the team. It would be an unreal feeling personally, but massive for the younger guys in the changeroom.”
Some of those younger guys will be charged with playing critical roles from Thursday, particularly in the batting unit. Elgar confirmed that Ryan Rickelton would replace the injured Rassie van der Dussen, but other than saying one or two other changes were possible, gave no further insight into the make-up of the starting XI.
One of those changes will surely see a recall for Marco Jansen ahead of Simon Harmer, a decision that would make sense given the forecast for The Oval, with rain predicted for various stages of the five days including Thursday.
ALSO READ: Keegan Petersen: It’s obvious what the Proteas have to do to be successful
The other possible change may see a role for Wiaan Mulder, who was called into the squad after Van der Dussen’s injury. Mulder is Leicestershire’s leading run-scorer in the Division 2 of the County Championship this year, with an aggregate of 689 runs that includes a double century.
Will Victor Mpitsang’s selection panel deem that good enough to earn a starting berth at No.6? It would overload the bowling options, and besides, Khaya Zondo really should get a look in first, if as is expected Aiden Markram is going to be replaced.
However given the worrying state of the batting, perhaps Zondo and Mulder might both play, which could mean one of the three right arm quicks will be sacrificed – most likely Lungi Ngidi, who’s taken just two wickets in the series, although he has bowled much better than those returns reflect.
Breaking up South Africa’s major strength would be a huge call, and possibly a sacrifice too much given what is at stake at The Oval.
Ultimately for the South Africans it boils down to what Elgar said last week in Manchester and Keegan Petersen reiterated on Tuesday – the batters have to do their jobs.
“It’s been a bit of a frustration,” Elgar said about his side’s batting. “But it is something we’ve worked on hard. We’ve spoken at length about this topic, and now it’s time to walk the walk.”
SQUADS
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Wiaan Mulder, Kyle Verreynne, Khaya Zondo, Glenton Stuurman
England: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Ben Duckett, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Craig Overton, Matthew Potts, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root