Former South Africa skipper Dean Elgar is set to draw curtains on his cricketing career following the conclusion of the two-match Test series at home against India.
ICC on Friday revealed that Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced the 36-year-old’s final dance in cricket against India. In a career that has spanned over 12 years, the left-handed batter will finish with 86 Tests to his name.
“Playing the game of cricket has always been a dream of mine but having the opportunity to represent your country is the ultimate!” Elgar said in his statement as quoted from ICC.
“Having had the privilege to do it for 12 years internationally is simply beyond my wildest dreams. It has been an incredible journey that I have been fortunate enough to have,” Elgar said.
“As they say, ‘all good things come to an end’, and the Indian home series will be my last, as I have made the decision to retire from our beautiful game. A game that has given me so much. The Cape Town Test will be my last. My favourite stadium in the world. A place I scored my first Test run against New Zealand and hopefully my last too,” Elgar added.
During his career, Elgar amassed 5,146 runs, and is South Africa’s eighth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket. He is just 352 runs behind Mark Boucher, who is currently seventh on the list. He will have the opportunity to move past him in the upcoming two-Test clashes against India.
His decision means that he will be unavailable for the Protea’s two-match Test series in New Zealand. They will be forced to make a couple of changes because most of the frontline players will be involved in the SA20 league. Back in 2012, Elgar made his debut in Perth on South Africa’s tour of Australia, a time when the Proteas were ranked No. 1 in the world.