England vs South Africa 2017: 3rd Test, 5 talking points

#1 Dean Elgar fights and fights

England v South Africa - 3rd Investec Test: Day Four

There is a certain shadow of Graeme Smith around Dean Elgar. Ugly in stance and uglier in strokes, Elgar isn't a free flowing, flamboyant stroke maker that openers are these days. He isn't a David Warner or a Shikhar Dhawan neither is he an Alastair Cook, yet he has a technique that works well for him and despite all the ugliness, he manages to stay afloat and fight more often than not.

It is this quality that possibly promoted the selectors to hand over the captaincy to him when du Plessis was unavailable. He might have come apart in that task, but opening is his forte as is defiance and resilience. With all odds against the Proteas heading into day 5, Elgar fought and bled through England's strong attack to stay alive and make a spectacular hundred.

Fourth innings hundreds are a rarity in these days and Graeme Smith, who once held the record for most fourth innings Test hundreds (he has four and jointly held the record until Younis Khan broke it), would have been proud of this knock from Dean Elgar.