Elgar not open to suggestion about opening

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

DEAN Elgar struggled to believe what Robin Peterson got away with at a press conference in Centurion on Sunday.

“Four questions? Four questions!” Elgar spluttered after the gathered media agreed that two minutes and 10 seconds of polite enquiry was enough for Peterson - who would not get through one of his overs of left-arm spin in that short time.

Elgar was not as lucky. He spent just more than 11 minutes in the hot seat.

Blame the disparity on Centurion, where the first test in SA’s series against West Indies starts on Wednesday.

As a slow bowler, Peterson is unlikely to be a major player at a ground where seam and swing rule. He will not even get a game if SA take the plunge with an all-pace attack.

Elgar, however, will feel the heat when he opens the batting. He has taken guard at the top of the order in eight of his 19 test innings, and scored a century and two half-centuries doing so.

As a test opener, Elgar averages 38.75. When he does not open, that figure dips to 25.11. His overall average is 31.52.

But he batted at No. 6 in his only test so far at Centurion, perhaps the most challenging of venues for batsmen in a country that former SA captain and opener Graeme Smith said was the most difficult in which to face the new ball.

“I echo what Graeme says,” Elgar said. “I have done for it eight years, though, in first-class cricket in SA.

“So maybe I’m a bit more accustomed to opening the batting and used to the conditions. I’ve played a few four-day games (at Centurion) - I know what’s expected of the wicket, and I’ve had some success here as well.”

The first time Elgar played a first-class match at Centurion, for the Eagles against the Titans in March, 2010, he opened and scored 161. However, he has a top score of nine in his other five innings at the ground - all of them also as an opener.

This summer, Elgar’s highest score in four first-class innings for the Titans - none of them at Centurion - has been 45.

But he was not about to complicate his challenge with all those facts and figures.

“It’s test cricket: you can’t put pre-conceived ideas in your head before the first ball is bowled,” he said. “If you worry about their bowlers too much your game takes a back seat.”

Elgar is also not losing too much sleep over the fact that South Africans are still getting over not seeing Smith, who retired in March, walk out at the start of the innings.

“That (Smith) era has come to an end,” Elgar said. “The guys appreciate what has happened, and they are mature and professional enough to understand that there’s another opening pair to start things off. You won’t be in the side if you are not capable of fulfilling the role.”