With his contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA) ending, former Test captain Dean Elgar has opened up on the toxicity in the team environment and the politics of it all. Elgar, who was reportedly forced into retirement by red-ball coach Shukri Conrad since the senior opener wasn’t in his future plans for Proteas, in a revelation has spoken about his captaincy stint, the sudden removal and the premature retirement saying that his hard work wasn’t recognised.
Elgar in a conversation with Rapport Newspaper mentioned that he wasn’t aware of what he was getting into as cricket took a backseat when he was named the skipper and he became a full-time politician and an administrator. “I became a part-time cricketer and full-time politician, something that I never want to go through again,” Elgar said. “I am a sportsman, not a politician or a cricket administrator, but I was thrown into a cauldron in which I had to be all three. If I had known that before, I would never have accepted the captaincy.”
Elgar felt backstabbed by the Cricket South Africa (CSA) after he was sacked from the top job. It was on the horizon after South Africa lost to Australia 3-0, however, under Elgar, South Africa had a more than a decent shot at qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final after beating India, Bangladesh and West Indies.
“It felt as though they did not recognise all my hard work over the previous year-and-a-half, that they didn’t realise how much we had improved as a team,” Elgar added. “From being sixth or seventh in the world we became a team with the potential to play in the World Test Championship final.”
Elgar mentioned that the new red-ball coach was better aligned with Temba Bavuma as the skipper. Even though there was no bad blood with Bavuma, Elgar didn’t hold himself back on blaming Conrad. “Shukri Conrad is the reason why my Test career was cut short,” said Elgar who admittedly held himself back from criticizing his earswhile employees with the contract still being on till the end of April.
Elgar retired from international cricket on a high as a captain after Bavuma was injured for the second Test against India. Even though the Proteas lost the second Test in Cape Town, his 185 in the opener in Centurion was the main reason why the hosts could draw the series 1-1. The 36-year-old has signed a three-year deal with Essex and already has two fifties and a century to his name.