Dean Elgar likened the emotions of a Test series victory to winning a World Cup, while recognising that he has never played in one of the latter.
“I only play the game to win,” Elgar said on the eve of his final Test. “I don’t care about stats. I care about wins. I care about series wins. That’s the greatest memories you can ever share with your team, everyone that has got an influential role in the background. Test series wins – you don’t top that. Maybe a World Cup win is up there. I have never had that opportunity but this is my World Cup. This is my arena where I want to win.”
Elgar’s career will end this week with 86 Test caps and with him as one of only eight South Africans to have scored more than 5000 runs in Test cricket. He is 167 runs away from catching Mark Boucher, who is seventh on the list and will equal Herbie Taylor, with 18 Tests as captain, the fifth-most by a South African. While the runs are something Elgar hopes to reflect on in the future, being asked to lead…