All Good Things Come To An End: Ex-South Africa Skipper

After today’s two-match Test series against India at home concludes, former South Africa captain Dean Elger will retire from cricket. Cricket South Africa (CSA) declared the 36-year-old’s final dance in cricket against India, the ICC disclosed on Friday. 86 Tests will be completed by the left-handed batsman in a career spanning more than a decade. It’s just beyond my wildest hopes that I got to do it globally for 12 years. It’s been an amazing adventure, and I feel really blessed.

The Indian home series will be my last since, as they say, “all good things come to an end.” I have decided to retire from our lovely game. A game I’ve benefited from so much. This will be my final Cape Town Test. The stadium of my dreams worldwide. A spot where, ideally, I scored both my first and last Test run against New Zealand,” Elgar continued. Elgar is now South Africa’s eighth-highest run scorer in Test cricket, having scored 5,146 runs across his career. Only 352 runs separate him and Mark Boucher, who is presently ranked seventh, on the list. Against India, in the next two Test matches, he will have the chance to surpass him.

He will be absent for the Protea’s two-match Test series in New Zealand as a result of his choice. The majority of the front-line players will play in the SA20 league, so they will have to make a few adjustments. Elgar debuted in Perth during the 2012 South Africa tour of Australia, when the Proteas were the top-ranked team in the world. With the exception of Pakistan and Zimbabwe, he made a century in his third Test match and amassed a total of 13 tons. Sri Lanka was his favorite opponent; in 2014, he hit the game-winning hundred in Galle, and he went on to score two more tons in 2017 and 2021.

During the first Test of South Africa’s 2017 tour of England and again for two Tests against Pakistan in 2019, Elgar took over as captain while Faf du Plessis was on paternity leave. In 2021, Elgar assumed permanent command of the Test team. He guided South Africa to historic series victories against India at home and in the West Indies. In 2022, he managed a draw in a series against New Zealand. They led the World Test Championship (WTC) table at the time thanks to their successful performances.