Dean Elgar stands tall amidst despair

Dean Elgar watched Ben Stokes claim two wickets in two balls. He watched the ball zooming past Quinton de Kock’s bat and uprooting his stumps and he also watched Faf du Plessis gifting away his wicket by bringing his pads in front of the stumps.

These two wickets and Hashim Amla’s surrender in the previous over were the final nails in the coffin for South Africa. The Test was over. South Africa was done and dusted at the Oval against England. The misery that started on the first day came to an end with the fall of South Africa’s three best batsmen.

But Elgar still had something left in him, something that allowed him to stay calm and score two boundaries in the next over.

England bowled a flurry of bouncers to him. Stokes kept on bending his back while Toby Roland-Jones delivered probing length deliveries. The Oval pitch allowed the ball to bounce a little more catching the batsman off-guard.

But nothing deterred the South-African opener from standing tall. Some deliveries missed his bat while some crashed on his body. But somehow he survived the ordeal. His defence was neither solid nor beautiful. If anything, it was flawed and had several gaping holes. However, that defence was valiant and that was what mattered at that moment.

The left-hand batsman took on the England bowlers who were breathing fire and had made the red cherry look like a grenade. And he emerged victorious. The bowlers finally gave up and offered loose deliveries which were disdainfully pulled in front of square for fours.

If the defense was unattractive, then these pull shots were authoritative. Rocking on the back-foot, Elgar smashed the ball with a horizontal bat exhibiting complete control.

England kept on bowling short; excepting the South African opener to play a false shot but he was too good to commit a mistake. He kept on playing the pull shot and accumulated boundaries.

The hosts then changed their tactics. After pushing the left-hand batsman on the back-foot, they delivered the fuller ones that lured the batsman to play a drive. Yet again, Elgar refused to budge. He patiently left the dangerous deliveries for Jonny Bairstow to collect, but when there was an error, he played some elegant drives down the ground exhibiting his class.

Elgar's scratchy hundred included some elegant and authoritative drives

He did all this when the hosts kept on picking up wickets from the other end. Resistance from Temba Bavuma and Chris Morris was short-lived and with every wicket, England came close to their inevitable victory.

But still, Elgar kept going on. He was keeping the pacers at the bay and had found a way of neutralizing Moeen Ali’s probing spin.

When other South Africans batted the pitch looked impossible to bat on, but the moment the opening batsman came to the crease, the same pitch become a flat track, tailor-made for scoring massive runs.

The fate of the 30-year old’s vigorous innings was sealed even before he faced his first ball. He was fighting a battle that his team had already lost in the first innings. With no support from the other end and while facing a bowling artillery full of fresh venom he produced one of his finest Test innings.

An innings that was inconsequential yet significant. An innings that was inconsequential to the result of this game but was significant in keeping South Africa’s morale intact.

The legacy of Elgar’s gutsy hundred

Elgar’s century couldn’t prevent South Africa’s defeat but it is still worth in gold. This century would keep the Proteas spirit high and will help in preparing them for the final and the decisive Test.

This century will remind England bowlers that they were threatening at the Oval but were not invincible. It will remind them that against them, a man who survived LBW shouts and missed the ball often ended up scoring a hundred on a fifth-day Oval wicket.

A boost to Elgar’s career

The hundred is also important for Elgar’s personal career. Before coming to this innings he hadn’t reached the triple figure mark in ten straight innings. And in this Test series had a quiet presence so far.

But with this gallant knock in the fourth innings, he has once again stamped his reputation as the best South African opening batsman of this era.

Elgar's hundred rekindled hope in South Africa's camp

Courtesy his heroic performance in this Test, Elgar has become the leading run scorer for South Africa in this series. He has accumulated 286 runs so far while Hashim Amla, the second in the list has scored 216 runs.

When both teams lock horns in the fourth Test at Manchester, Elgar will be one of the few men who will walk in the middle with confidence and high self-esteem.