Proteas captain Dean Elgar has come under increasing pressure during their ongoing series against Australia Proteas captain Dean Elgar has come under increasing pressure during their ongoing series against Australia. Photo: Dave Hunt/EPA
Johannesburg — Dean Elgar’s future as Proteas Test captain is in jeopardy after two heavy defeats and a series loss to Australia.
Previously he was unflappable, but Elgar is now the struggling leader of an embattled team who are confronting a disaster after the embarrassment of an innings and 182-run defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the second Test on Thursday that followed their six-wicket defeat at the Gabba last week.
Elgar’s contribution with the bat over the course of the four innings is 3, 2, 26 and a duck. In his last eight innings since the first Test against England in July, he has scored just 91 runs at an average of 11.37. It is no coincidence that South Africa have only managed to pass 200 once, in their final innings at the MCG, since that Test at Lord’s.
The nature of his dismissals have also been mystifying. Run out in the first innings in Melbourne and then caught down the leg side. They are all signs of a leader who is buckling under increasing pressure.
When he first assumed the captaincy, it seemed that the position would enhance his scoring credentials rather than diminish them. He averaged 47 in the series win over India in January and then 56 against Bangladesh in April.
Both were played at home, though, with Elgar’s form dipping remarkably on the foreign shores of the West Indies (29), New Zealand (13.75), England (21.40) and Australia (7.75) during this period.
The rest of the Proteas batting unit has, of course, not been much better but when the captain admits his team are suffering from inexperience, then it's simply a case of the blind leading the blind.
Elgar, though, feels the Proteas’ Test inadequacies lay not with any individual, but rather the entire system of SA cricket that has domestic first-class teams only playing seven matches a season.
He also feels that the lack of regular exposure to high-quality Test cricket is what leads to the Melbourne mauling.
“I've been going on about how we need to be playing more Test cricket. And our players at the moment need to be exposed to this level,” Elgar said.
“Even though you take in the hidings that we have had in the first two Tests and the England series that we had, our players need to be exposed to that. And unfortunately, we are learning much, probably in the most ruthless and brutal way.
“And I think there are more learnings out of this than going out and playing against a team that's of similar strength and we beat them. So there are a few defining factors that I can still take forward, but I would still love for our guys to be exposed to two more of these and obviously so that those guys can be fast tracked in the international arena.”
Despite the crushing defeats in Australia, Elgar has not given up hope of qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship final at The Oval next year. The Proteas are still third on the WTC standings and can still manage to squeeze into the final if they beat Australia in the final Test in Sydney next week and beat the West Indies at home 2-0 in March.
“Take away the Gabba result and just purely out of this, the MCG Test, I think a lot more character was shown with the ball. Even though the Aussies batted us into the ground, I really saw a lot of characters come out in our bowling ranks, maybe not as much in our batting,” Elgar said.
“I mentioned Kyle (Verreynne). He's maybe the one guy that's put up two decent performances in this Test. Yeah, it's a tough one to digest currently, but it's about that positive bit of affirmation that you have to give to the greater group.
“I'm not going to go away from that because I still feel the guys that we have here are talented cricketers and hardened first-class cricketers. That’s what we are playing for the badge, the pride of our team. We have to believe.”