Dean Elgar (born 11 June 1987) is a South African

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and ODIs, and also a former Test captain. He is a left-handed

opening batter In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

and a slow-left arm bowler. Elgar captained the

2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was played in Sri Lanka from 2 to 15 February 2006. The final was played between Pakistan and India in Colombo, which Pakistan won by 38 runs, enabling them to become the first back-to-back champions of th ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 2006. He now plays for the

Northerns cricket team Northerns (formerly North Eastern Transvaal and Northern Transvaal) has played first-class cricket in South Africa since December 1937. Its territory is the area north of Johannesburg, and it includes Pretoria. For the purposes of the SuperSpor ...

and

Titans cricket team The Titans (known as the Multiply Titans for sponsorship reasons) are the northernmost top-level cricket franchise in South Africa. Its member unions are the Eastern Cricket Union and Northerns Cricket Union. The home venues of the Titans are S ...

in the major South African cricket competitions. He was included in the Northerns team for the 2015

Africa T20 Cup The Africa T20 Cup was a Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by Cricket South Africa. It featured a combination of South African provincial teams and teams representing other African countries, including Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. It ran for ...

. On 23 March 2018, he became the second batsman after

Desmond Haynes Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting and scored 7,487 runs in 116 Te ...

to carry his bat through an innings on three occasions in Test cricket history. In March 2021,

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

announced that Elgar had been appointed as South Africa's Test captain, taking over the role from

Quinton de Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...

International career

Debut years

Elgar was selected for the Sri Lankan ODI series in early 2012 but had to withdraw citing injury. He eventually made his ODI debut against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in a rain-abandoned match, but found success in his second match, scoring 15 in his maiden innings before being bowled by

Graeme Swann Graeme Peter Swann (born 24 March 1979) is an English former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm off-spinner, and also ...

. Bowling his left-arm spin, Elgar had

Craig Kieswetter Craig Kieswetter (born 28 November 1987) is an English professional golfer and former cricketer who appeared in 71 matches for the England cricket team between 2010 and 2013. Born and raised in South Africa, Kieswetter moved to England to com ...

caught out off only his third delivery in ODI Cricket. In the field, Elgar took an incredible catch of

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team. Domestically, he played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club as well as ...

then caught

Eoin Morgan Eoin (, or ) is an Irish name. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent is () and both are closely related to the Welsh . It is also cognate with the Irish . In the Irish language, it is the name used for all Biblical figures known as ''John'' in Engli ...

out in a South African victory. Elgar made his test debut against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 30 November 2012 and scored a duck in his maiden test innings. He followed this with another duck in the second innings to complete a pair of ducks on debut. On 12 January 2013, Elgar scored his maiden test century against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The retirement of

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

created a regular opportunity for Elgar in his specialist position at the top of the order in Test cricket. Elgar made 103, against Sri Lanka on 16 July 2014, and followed up with 121 against West Indies at

St George's Oval St George's Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park, Crusaders Ground or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park,South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in So ...

, a ground where he scored almost half of his career international test runs, and recorded the most fifties.

Record opener

On 28 December 2015, Elgar became the first South African opener to

carry his bat In cricket, the term carry the bat (or carry one's bat) refers to an opening batsman (no. 1 and 2) who is not dismissed ("not out") when the team innings is closed. The term is mainly used when the innings closes after all 10 wickets have falle ...

in a Test innings since

Gary Kirsten Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team. Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for So ...

in 1997, when he finished 118 not out against England. On 5 November 2016, Elgar scored 127 during the first Test against Australia at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The partnership of 250 by himself and

JP Duminy Jean-Paul Duminy (born 14 April 1984), more commonly known as JP Duminy, is a South African cricket commentator, and former international cricketer. He was vice-captain of the South Africa Twenty20 team. He is a left-handed batsman and a rig ...

in the match was recorded as South Africa's highest partnership in Perth, the third highest overall in Perth, and their second highest against Australia. On 11 March 2017, against New Zealand he became the first South African opener to face 200 or more balls in both innings of a Test. On 27 January 2018, against India Elgar became the first South African to

twice in Tests since 1992. On 23 March 2018, Elgar carried the bat for the third time in his test career scoring an unbeaten 141 against Australia when South Africa was bowled out for 311 in the first innings of the 3rd test, equalling the record with

of West Indies. With this achievement, he also became the only batsman to carry his bat in an innings of a test match twice in a single calendar year.

Captaincy

Elgar stood in for regular Test captain

Faf du Plessis Francois "Faf" du Plessis ( ; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and is among the best all-forma ...

when he missed the first Test against England in 2017, following the birth of his first child. In January 2019, during Pakistan series, South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis was penalised for a slow over-rate in the second Test and was suspended for the third and final Test of the series. Elgar was named as the stand-in captain for the third Test. He took over as full-time test captain, following the resignation of

from the position. His first test as captain came against the West Indies in June 2021. South Africa won this match by an innings and 63 runs and then won the following test by 158 runs, giving Elgar a 2–0 victory in his debut series as captain. In January 2022, during the 2021–22 Indian tour of South Africa Elgar scored an unbeaten 96 in the second test to guide South Africa to a seven wicket victory and draw the series level.

Domestic and franchise cricket

In September 2019, Elgar was named in the squad for the

Tshwane Spartans Tshwane Spartans were a city-based franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at SuperSport Park in Centurion. Tshwane Spartans played in the first two editions of the MLS in 2018 ...

team for the

2019 Mzansi Super League The 2019 Mzansi Super League, also known as the MSL 2.0, was the second edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. It started on 8 November and ended on 16 December 2019. Jozi Stars wer ...

tournament. In April 2021, he was named in Northerns' squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa. In February 2022, Elgar was named as the captain of the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

for the

2021–22 CSA T20 Challenge The 2021–22 CSA T20 Challenge was a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in South Africa during February 2022. It replaced the planned 2022 edition of the Mzansi Super League, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Imperial L ...

List of international centuries

Elgar has scored 14

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

(100 or more runs in a single

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

) in

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

. Elgar made his Test debut against Australis at

the Waca The WACA (formally the WACA Ground) is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association. The WACA has been referred to as Western ...

in November 2012. His highest Test score of 199 came against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

at the

Senwes Park Senwes Cricket Stadium is a Cricket ground in Potchefstroom, North West Province, South Africa. It has hosted two Test matches, with the first in 2002. The Highveld Lions also play some home matches here. It is also home to AFL South Africa, t ...

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

in September 2018. He has not scored any century in

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) matches or

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

International (T20I) matches.

References

External links

*
Dean Elgar
s profile page on Wisden {{DEFAULTSORT:Elgar, Dean 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Welkom South African cricketers Free State cricketers Knights cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers Somerset cricketers Surrey cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England Titans cricketers Tshwane Spartans cricketers South Africa Test cricket captains Essex cricketers