“You don’t have to be a nob to be resilient. We are going to keep the values of what a South African cricket team is about.” — Shukri Conrad on life after Dean Elgar.
Telford Vice / Cape Town
WHAT happens when the core of a team, the figure who is, consciously or not, the keeper-in-chief of the culture, who sets the team’s course and keeps it faithful to that course, who serves as a bridge between the past and the present and influences the future, is no longer there? South Africa will find out in two Tests’ time.
Dean Elgar, 36, will call it a career after the series against India, which starts in Centurion on Tuesday and is scheduled to end on January 7 at Newlands. His 84 caps represent almost a quarter of the 353 in a squad of 15 in which three players — 20% — have played no Tests. On the other side of the dressingroom divide, only Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin have more Test experience than Elgar.
South Africa have been here before, of course, when icons like Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith have gone. But this feels different, perhaps because Boucher, Kallis, Smith and Elgar are different versions of, essentially, the same person; someone South Africans admire, respect and know they can depend on — someone they aspire to be.
“Dean epitomises what a South African cricketer is about, almost what a South African is about: resilience, dog fight, pride in performance, and also that ability to never back down,” Shukri Conrad told a press conference in Centurion on Saturday. “Those are all the elements that Dean has brought in his extensive international and first-class career to all the sides that he has played in. If some of the young bucks are going to step into those big shoes, if they can have half the characteristics and the qualities that Dean has, then we’ll be in a good space.”
Elgar has been a cussed, crusty, curmudgeonly presence since he made his debut at the Waca more than 11 years ago. Those qualities helped mould the team into a side good enough to keep the Test mace they won three months before Elgar made his debut for another 18 months. He took on the mantle relinquished by Boucher, Kallis and Smith, and he has worn it well.
So much so that many of South Africa’s players who have come after Elgar seem softer, less likely to disagree bluntly and more careful about not stepping on toes, than the last of the straight shooters. It’s difficult to see much of Elgar in the polished politeness of Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee and Tony de Zorzi. Will the soul of South Africa’s team leave with Elgar?
“Nice guys can be resilient,” Conrad said. “You don’t have to be a nob to be resilient. The characteristics we display when we are on the field, that needs to speak to what being South African looks like. We are going to keep the values of what a South African cricket team is about. Dean epitomises that, and the Tonys and some of the nicest people in the world will always embody that. It’s something we are going to continuously strive towards.”
That will be difficult considering South Africa will play only four Tests in 2023. Their two Tests in New Zealand in February will be their only other matches in the format this southern summer. Did that prompt Elgar to go?
“The fact that we haven’t got much Test cricket is part of the reason we arrived at the decision,” Conrad said. “We would like to play more Test cricket because the more we play the more opportunity we’ve got to blood cricketers for the future. Currently I’ve got very little opportunity to do that. Sometimes decisions like Dean’s are arrived at because of a lack of cricket. It’s not an excuse. We’ve got to make do with what we’ve got, and not only want to be competitive but win Tests.”
South Africa’s chances of doing so in the coming weeks would be made easier if Kagiso Rabada and Ngidi recover from the bruised heel and sprained ankle that have kept them out of action since the World Cup. “Both KG and Lungi are still in the squad and up for selection; we will make that decision tomorrow,” Conrad said. “The fact that they are still in the squad means they are up for selection.”
Players like Rabada and Ngidi, who have 76 Test caps between them, are important in South Africa’s bid to stay competitive and thus relevant in a changing cricket landscape. That will mean maintaining a team identity strong enough not to be derailed by high-profile retirements.
“We are in the entertainment business and we have to make sure we make the product enjoyable not only for fans but for players, given the threat of all the leagues around the world that can lure some Test players,” Conrad said. “I am still very much convinced that Test cricket is a massive thing for all our players. Have we got a certain brand? I don’t have a name for it but I am always going to go for the character over the cover driver.”
That character will be tested by an India team who know South Africa is the only country they’ve toured without winning a Test series. Instead, they’ve lost seven of eight rubbers. Considering India’s stature in the world game, that doesn’t sit well.
“We know what history tells us,” Conrad said. “If it was possible to make this series bigger, that does: India have never won here. We are certainly going to try to hold onto that proud record and make sure it doesn’t happen. It has been dubbed the final frontier in India, and we are going to be doing our damnedest to make sure they don’t conquer it.”
The contest between India’s batting and South Africa’s bowling could be what decides the series. “If there’s a top five in world cricket at the moment, Virat [Kohli] probably sits at No. 1. Virat is always going to be a prized wicket wherever he goes in the world. Even when he turns 50 he will still be a prized wicket. Rohit [Sharma], Shubman Gill — India have quality bursting through them. But we have a quality attack. Fans can look forward to a hell of a Test series.”
And to the drama of Dean’s denouement.
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