There are two distinct categories of batsmen in the world. There’s the superstar, stroke-making kind who drops jaws with his audacity and there’s the stoic bore of a batsman who barely looks like he’s surviving; as though he were a misfit thrust into the world of cricket.

Dean Elgar leans heftily towards the latter breed of batsmen. After gaining an interest in cricket early on, Elgar rose through the grind of grade cricket in South Africa and was subsequently elected to lead the the South African Under-19 World Cup squad in 2006. He simultaneously played in the South African domestic circuit and rose into national reckoning with the sheer weight of runs to back him.