Boucher & I are similar people, understand each other well: Elgar

Cape Town, May 25 (IANS) Dean Elgar has remained coy over his future as South Africa’s Test captain, but the senior opener believes head coach Mark Boucher leans on him a lot and that they both share a great understanding.

Elgar is likely to be a strong candidate to take over from Faf du Plessis with Aiden Markram also in line.

“The captaincy is not like going for a job interview, where you hand in your CV. You don’t put your hand up for it. It’s something that’s decided by someone else and it’s who they think is the best person for the job,” Elgar told ESPNcricinfo in an interview.

“It’s good for players to have confidence and back their abilities, but when you do that, you can put yourself in an exposed position.”

On Boucher and his camaraderie, he said: “I worked quite closely with him at the Titans and most of the time I was a senior player and sometimes even the captain. We are quite similar people and we understand each other quite well.”

“Mark Boucher has brought in a totally different environment during a difficult time. He is quite reliant on players he has worked with in the past and has used that to fast-track the team culture. It hasn’t been that easy for him, and I think he is still trying to finalise a Test XI, or finalise a squad of players to work with,” he added.

Asked if he noticed the captaincy affecting du Plessis in the past summer, Elgar, who turns 33 next month, said: “If you as a captain aren’t getting results then pressure builds. The World Cup didn’t work in his favour and then everything snowballed from there. He would have known whether it was the right time to step down or not.”

du Plessis stepped down as skipper after South Africa lost their home series to England at the start of the year.

Elgar has twice stepped up as captain for du Plessis in the past.

–IANS

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