Dean Elgar, in contrast to David Warner, consistently wore his Test headgear perched atop his head. On Thursday evening, Elgar was seated in a tavern located at a distance of two kilometers from Newlands. Situated in close proximity to a forested area with Table Mountain in the background, this location is comparable in likelihood of encountering a high court judge or a cricketer bidding farewell to their international career.
Elgar was seated in a small, intimate circle that included Aiden Markram. The retiree’s countenance was devoid of either lethargy or relief. It was possibly the moment of culmination; an undertaking accomplished, a period concluded, and a transition to a new phase. At the table, Elgar’s was the only veiled cranium.
His headwear provided a closer embrace than Warner’s would for the Australian. Or, if Warner could have located one of his two, which was subsequently recovered following what appeared to be a botched team hoax. However, Elgar’s was only marginally worse. The front panel’s green fabric had developed perforations near the crown and between the insignia and the brim. The ruptures were indicated by protruding hedges composed of tattered threads. The majority of the textile was removed from the leading border of the brim. Conversely, a point of undefined grayishness protruded from the curve.
Elgar’s headgear had to be substituted prior to South Africa’s June 2021 series in the West Indies, as he believed he had misplaced the original. It was discovered upon his return from the Caribbean. That made those two matches, Elgar’s inaugural as the appointed captain of South Africa, the only instances in which he donned the substitute in his 86 Tests.
As the first day approached that it would have been over a decade since he would no longer be an active Test cricketer, Elgar pondered the cap he had donned during his debut at the WACA in November 2012, where he was dismissed two times, and his subsequent visit to Perth nearly four years later, where he amassed 127 runs. It was the same cap he donned in all 14 matches in which he amassed centuries, and nine of his eighteen Tests as captain were successful.
That was not an ordinary headwear. It was a memento of a man and the era in which he was among the greatest cricketers in history. However, it had ceased to be a significant aspect of Elgar’s repertoire, something he would have packed for an additional three days under the relentless summer sun of the Cape. The Newlands Test concluded in a fiery conflagration hour earlier on a pitch that the International Cricket Council deemed “unsatisfactory” with anal understatement on Tuesday. Whoever was assigned to bat on that surface was terribly unjust due to the inconsistent bounce. With 642 deliveries, a match that was supposed to last 25 sessions was concluded in 4 and a half, or 18% of the allotted time, making it the shortest of the 2,541 Tests to date.
Elgar lasted for 15 balls in the first innings before deflecting a wide delivery from Mohammed Siraj onto his stumps with a curved downswing, and 28 balls in the second before prodding Mukesh Kumar to first slip. He would have rather not proceeded in this manner. Particularly after, eight days prior, establishing South Africa’s innings triumph with an exceptionally effortless 185 runs off a Centurion pitch that was not significantly more difficult. That brought Elgar’s century total on home pitches for South Africa during his career to seven: St George’s Park, Kingsmead, Newlands, Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein, the Wanderers, and Centurion.
Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis both scored hundreds in Test cricket at six of those venues. Despite reaching 50 on twelve occasions at St. George’s Park, Kallis failed to do so in 19 innings. In January 2007, he was dismissed for nine runs against Pakistan. During the 1980s, he amassed three additional scores, of which two were unblemished. Although Amla was not present at Kingsmead, his 69 off West Indies in January 2008 constituted the highest of four half-centuries he amassed in twenty-one innings. At five of the seven venues, Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, and Faf du Plessis all scored hundreds. De Villiers’ status as an individual who has not participated in a Test match in Potchefstroom introduces complexity to the situation.
Following the completion of his collection at Centurion, Elgar remarked, “I’m included in a respectable roster.” Who else participated? This query was posed to Herschelle Gibbs on Tuesday between bouts in the weights section of a gym located on the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town. Gibbs cast a cautious glance to the left and then to the right as he pondered a plausible response. He grasped on immediately upon being informed that the club has only one other member. “Is it me?” he inquired in genuine astonishment.
Indeed, it is Gibbs. How did he manage to remain unaware? Due to the fact that scoring runs and having enjoyment were, not necessarily in that order, his objectives in professional cricket. Maintaining awareness of the particulars was not a primary concern. Additionally, because Gibbs avoided social media for the majority of his career, which was not a negative thing considering his former rock star lifestyle. During the majority of Elgar’s period of prominence, he was inundated with an abundance of online statistics and facts that were akin to poultry feed. It is inconceivable that he was unaware of his proximity to the seven marvels. With caution and prudence, Elgar has abstained from participating in the Twittering classes; however, he does monitor the discourse surrounding himself. Gibbs is the most outspoken and vehement social media critic of South African cricket.
Elgar had to exert considerable effort in order to attain achievement. Gibbs possessed an abundance of talent that impeded his progress. This in no way detracts from Elgar’s talent or indicates that Gibbs was lacking in work ethic. However, the distinctions that set them apart as batters are comparable to those that distinguish penguins from peregrines. It would be extremely valuable to observe Gibbs bat, and you would pay Elgar a substantial amount of money to bat as if his survival were at stake.
