Proteas captain Elgar maps the way forward in new role

The Proteas are off to the Caribbean on Monday and, having gathered on Friday, new captain Dean Elgar spent the weekend almost trying to market his new leadership style to an expanded squad of 19 players.

Elgar is one of the characters of the changeroom, and is often considered a joker, but he has shown he has strong leadership credentials at the Titans and certainly commands the respect of the players.

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But a new era begins this week, post the captaincy tenures of Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, and Elgar has been making sure everyone is on the same page as to the way things are going to be done now.

“We had a great chat on our first night together, when I mapped out how I see things going forward and we had a conversation around that,” Elgar said at the weekend.

“It was very constructive and those conversations will be ongoing over the next few weeks. I want to try and change the mindsets going forward, but it’s a challenge with 18 different individuals who all have different opinions.

“So I’m trying to get buy-in, get the guys to trust the process.”

The 33-year-old Elgar said he would be leaning on other players who had been part of the Test squad for more than five years like Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada, because their experience would be vital for a rebuilding side.

“Those players are so valuable and there is a great demand for them around the world of cricket. You can’t replicate their knowledge,” he said.

“There’s not a lot of experience floating around at the moment, so their presence is massive for the environment.

“It was a totally different era when I started playing Test cricket under Graeme Smith,. We had a lot more caps around then.

“But I would like to try and use my learnings from back then, use the knowledge I gained. That time moulded me and taught me a lot of good lessons, so I would like to bring that into this side.”