Dean Elgar joined Essex after retiring from Test Cricket to fill the shoes of the Chef, Alister Cook.

Dean Elgar
Dean Elgar retired from Test Cricket and joined Essex for a 3 year deal in the county championship. But, Elgar says, with political pressure mounting from within Cricket South Africa, he already knew that "the writing was on the wall" for his international career when he announced that that India series would be his last.

"I made a decision last February [2023] already that I was going to retire at the end of the India series," Elgar said. "My mind was made up long ago about where my future was, or how it looked back home."

"It's maybe not looking as rosy as what it should be looking, but I think after serving the Proteas for 12 years, I maybe had that respect to decide how my career's going to look."

"Me and Harmy have known each other for well over 15 years," Elgar said. "Obviously we were team-mates back home when he was in the Proteas squad as well. And the whole conversation came about when we're having a braai at my house."

"For me that was a direct line of communication. When he heard the prospect of me retiring, he brought it to Essex and spoke to the powers-that-be about what my plans were looking like. It was just an easy, direct conversation to have with him."

"As a young kid playing professional cricket, I always had a vision of ending my career playing county cricket. I'm a British passport holder - my mum and brother live in Sussex - so that was always something that I that I was looking to do, irrespective of how things look back home. So I'm really excited to be here with the bunch. We had a good preseason in Abu Dhabi, and I'm looking forward to the season."

Elgar also talked about Essex' legendary batter Cook who retired from Cricket last year after piling 26,643 runs, including 11,337 at an average of 45.16 in two decades at Essex. He said it would have been dream for him if he batted with Cook.

"Batting alongside Chef would have been a bit of a dream, but in saying that he's allowed to make his own decisions and rightly so," Elgar said. "I can't play the way he does. I mean, he's a 'Sir' for a reason. Rightly so and well deserved. But if I could get everything even 80% close to what he's done, I think Essex cricket would be in a good spot."