Dean Elgar: South Africa’s next first-choice opener in the making

Elgar's defining knock has helped push his case for being South Africa's first choice opener.

South African batsman Dean Elgar scored his third century in the second Test against West Indies at Port Elizabeth on Friday, guiding the Proteas to a position of strength at the end of the opening day. Amit Banerjee explains how the knock can help secure the opening spot for Elgar.

The scenes at St. George’s Oval at Port Elizabeth were not very different from that of Centurion. The West Indian bowlers were made to look like a bunch of rookies as they were clobbered all over the park by the likes of Elgar and Faf du Plessis. Elgar, in particular, seemed to feast on the hapless bowling attack with delight as he notched up his third Test century, smashing 18 boundaries during his innings.

Elgar’s innings defined patience and elegance, virtues which are of great importance for a Test batsman. Bearing the responsibility of steadying South Africa’s innings after the dismissal of Alviro Petersen, with the latter not contributing much to the total. Elgar then forged a solid 179-run partnership with No. 3 batsman du Plessis, who also struck form for the first time since the tour of New Zealand. The South African top-order managed to shine after a disappointing show in the first Test, where the Proteas were down to 57 for three at one stage, before Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers took over.

Elgar’s defining knock has helped push his case for being South Africa’s first choice opener. Elgar has been tried and tested in various positions in the batting order and has produced results in all of them. While two of his tons have come in the opening position, both in the current year, his maiden ton came against New Zealand in the No. 7 position.

Given the success of Amla and de Villiers in the middle-order, one would expect the team-management to push Elgar to the top, which would actually be a constructive one for the team. Elgar has the temperament and patience to succeed as a Test batsman, and as such would be a favourable choice for the spot of the opener in the given format.

Calling him a successor to Graeme Smith as an ideal opener would be a little far-fetched, but a couple of more such knocks are bound to draw comparisons. In the meantime, the South African think-tank might want to take a look at Alviro Petersen’s relevance in the opening slot, given a spate of non-performances in the recent past.

(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)

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