Dean Elgar urges boards to give 'more safety' to players amid scheduling conflicts

South African Test skipper Dean Elgar, who has been a hot topic on English media since openly critiquing the ‘Bazball’ theory, has called for the cricket boards to have arrangements in place to avoid clashes between domestic T20 leagues and red-ball cricket. The South African gave his views on fixture congestion ahead of the mouth-watering Test series against England commencing on the 17th of August, Wednesday.

The Proteas skipper’s remarks referred to events that took place earlier in the year when six of his compatriots were handed a choice of either representing the Test team in the series against Bangladesh or featuring in the Indian Premier League. The players chose the latter as the alluring mega deals were too good to refuse.

Dean Elgar hopes to avoid the repeat of the scenario in the future and eluded to the fact there should be a protocol in place between the board in such cases when a clash between domestic competitions and national commitments becomes unavoidable.

“I hope if there is some sort of clash of events, there are some sort of things put in place between the two bodies of cricket. We would like to think there is something more concrete put around that just to give players more safety,” Elgar said ahead of the first Test against England.

‘I am very happy to have them back, Dean Elgar remarked on having a full-strength squad

Notably, the six players (Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Marco Jansen) who departed to play the IPL have been welcomed back gleefully by the South African skipper, who was bullish on his stance earlier and had referred to it as a test of loyalty. He clarified that he understands their dilemma and respects the decisions they made as a group.

“We were aware of the situation those players were put in. It was a very unfortunate situation that they had to go through, and I don’t blame them for the decision they made. They were put in a corner, and they had to make a decision, and as a group, they made a decision. It wasn’t an individual decision, it was a group decision which I am totally happy about because I sat in more meetings than anyone. I am very happy to have them back,” the Proteas skipper added.