Dean Elgar expresses desire to continue leading South Africa in Tests

South Africa’s Test captain Dean Elgar has not had the best of outings recently. South Africa have not just lost their past few Test matches, but Elgar’s performance with the bat has also seen a dip. The 35-year-old, however, wishes to continue his role as the team’s skipper and believes that he still has the "hunger and the drive" to serve the role.

Elgar has failed to notch up a century ever since taking over the captaincy of the team in 2021, and has an average of 28.40, with no scores of more than 36 in his previous ten innings. Elgar is determined to lead South Africa in their last series of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, a two-match Test series against the West Indies scheduled in February–March, and beyond, although admitting he needs a break.

“We've got two (Tests) and then potentially a lot of time off for myself for some gully cricket. Then the pressure is off a little bit. But, I enjoy the pressure. If (I was) scoring runs now, it would have been a lot easier to say yes (I want to continue) but obviously, you've got to go into it and ask yourself those questions and I have. I still have the hunger and drive, no doubt,” Elgar said in the post-match press conference.

It's frustrating that I could never get going through the series: Elgar

After the game against Australia, during the post-match presentation, Elgar expressed his optimism that following a poor 2022, he will be back among the runs. Later, during the press conference, Elgar admitted that he was upset with the manner of his dismissals as he was trapped down leg thrice in his six outings throughout the three-match series.

“I can accept once, maybe twice, but the third time is something that highly irritates me. And it's something different for me. Generally, you have a way of going out and bowlers target that. This is obviously something new and 10 years into a Test career, it's foreign territory for me,” he stated.

“It's just a bit frustrating that I could never get going through the series and when I did get going I managed to run myself out, which is also a massive no-no in Test cricket. All round, it's extremely frustrating. I have actually been batting well, my build-up has been good. There's been times where I have batted worse and I've actually got the performances, which is the ironic thing about this game,” Elgar further added.

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