Dean Elgar

South Africa|Opening Batter
Dean Elgar
INTL CAREER: 2012 - 2024
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Full Name

Dean Elgar

Born

June 11, 1987, Welkom, Orange Free State

Age

38y 35d

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Slow Left arm Orthodox

Playing Role

Opening Batter

A gritty left-hand opener in the mould of Kepler Wessels, Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith, Dean Elgar provided reliability to South Africa's batting line-up during a period of upheaval on and off the field.

He was averaging close to 60 in first-class cricket between 2010 and 2011, but he started his Test career, in South Africa's middle order, with a pair in Perth in November 2012. He bounced back two Tests later with an unbeaten 103 against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth. And once he moved up the order to open with Graeme Smith, Elgar made the role his own, gamely taking body blows, both physical and verbal, and shouldering much of the opening load after Smith retired.

His century in Galle in 2014, in which he relied on his powers of concentration to overcome his weakness against spin, was the first by a South Africa opener in Sri Lanka. From 2016 to 2021, he was the leading run-scorer among openers in Tests, making over 3000 runs at an average of 41, including 199 against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom, an unbeaten century against Australia in Cape Town (in a game that was overshadowed by the ball-tampering scandal), and an aggressive 160 in Visakhapatnam in an innings in which he took on the spin of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Elgar was appointed South Africa's Test captain in March 2021 after Quinton de Kock's brief stint as Faf du Plessis' replacement didn't work out. Racial tensions were bubbling over in South African cricket and the team had slipped low down the rankings. In his first year in charge, Elgar took them to series wins in the West Indies and at home against India, and a draw in New Zealand.

Dean Elgar Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests8615211534719937.921119047.78142368426920
ODIs8711044217.3317758.75006040
FC265463321815026842.113614750.2152752333802270
List A17817127626413743.50768581.50104547491540
T20s1049918259488*32.022254115.0801621065430

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests86451036673154/224/5644.863.8969.0100
ODIs84966721/111/1133.504.1848.0000
FC26513741752812564/225/14150.214.0474.5200
List A17810231092843574/374/3749.875.4854.5100
T20s10444627723294/234/2324.936.9121.6100

Dean Elgar T20 Stats

Batting & Fielding

TournamentTeamsMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Vitality Blast3 teams252516357726.45493128.80057013100
Mzansi Super LeagueTS1615341888*34.83340122.9403391060
CLT20KNGHT110222.00540.00000000

Bowling

TournamentTeamsMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Vitality Blast3 teams25118221 1/22 1/2222.007.3318.0000
Mzansi Super LeagueTS16536481 1/16 1/1648.008.0036.0000
CLT20KNGHT1------------
Dean Elgar

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI

Recent Matches of Dean Elgar

MatchBatDateGroundFormat
Essex vs Gloucs504-Jul-2025ChelmsfordT20
Essex vs Yorkshire94 & 1629-Jun-2025YorkFC
Essex vs Hampshire16 & 1822-Jun-2025ChelmsfordFC
Essex vs Kent5020-Jun-2025ChelmsfordT20
Essex vs Middlesex2019-Jun-2025Lord'sT20

Videos of Dean Elgar

Photos of Dean Elgar

Tom Westley and Dean Elgar put on 198 runs for the second wicket
Dean Elgar piles into a cut
Dean Elgar made his first T20 half-century in five years
Dean Elgar acknowledges his half-century
Dean Elgar wraps up against the elements at Chester-le-Street
Dean Elgar brought up his maiden Essex hundred on the first day at Chelmsford