Dean Elgar

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.