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'We Haven't Got Much..', SA Test Coach Reveals Real Reason Behind Dean Elgar's Retirement

image-lqizxgx0Dean Elgar will be retiring after India series (Twitter)

Dean Elgar's decision to retire from Test cricket and international game altogether after the conclusion of the looming Test series versus India is based partly on diminishing game time in the middle at the age of 36, revealed South Africa's red-ball coach Shukri Conrad. 

Conrad indicated that his discussion with Elgar led the veteran opener to call it quits as the head of support staff wishes to explore younger options amidst a scant Test schedule for the Proteas. 

South Africa have the quietest itinerary of all the leading World Test Championship (WTC) participants over the next four years and have played only 2 Tests in 2023, heading into the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. 

Next year, they are due to turn out in 10 Tests at the height of the 2023-25 WTC cycle, but Conrad doesn't find long-term benefits of Elgar continuing to hog one spot in an in-transition side, which is keen to spread the net wider and back young options to take South African cricket forward. 

Why Dean Elgar Is Retiring?

"The fact that we haven't got much Test cricket is part of the reason we arrived at the decision we arrived at. Ideally, we would like to play more Test cricket because the more Test cricket we play, the more opportunity we've got to blood cricketers for the future," Conrad was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. 

"If we have fewer Tests, that means I've got very little opportunity to blood young cricketers. Sometimes we arrive at decisions like Dean's now because of a lack of cricket and a lack of opportunity to blood young players," he added. 

Conrad has been criticised in certain corners for fast-tracking the stoic opening batter's exit from the scene but he said he holds Elgar in great regard and respect for his services to the Test game for Proteas with 5,146 runs made in 84 Tests. 

"Dean epitomises what a South African cricketer and almost what a South African person is about: resilience, dog fight, pride in performance and that ability to never back down," Conrad said. 

"Hopefully if some of the young bucks that are going to be stepping up into those big shoes, half of the characteristics and the qualities that Dean had, then we will be in a good space," he concluded.