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Cape Town - Proteas opener Dean Elgar will take his place among some of the greatest names in South African cricket history when he becomes just the 12th man to captain the Proteas (post 1992) in Test cricket this week.
Regular captain Faf du Plessis is still in South Africa following the birth of his child and has been ruled out of Thursday's series opener, and Elgar has been given the leadership.
With 35 Tests to his name, this will surely be the highlight of the 30-year-old Elgar's Test career so far, especially given that his first taste of the captaincy will come at the 'Home of Cricket'.
It may seem a strange call on the surface, but with AB de Villiers not currently playing Test cricket and with Hashim Amla vocal on not wanting the captaincy, Elgar emerged as the best possible candidate.
He has long been a respected leader in this side and there were even some mumblings that he was being considered for the role when Amla stepped down in 2015.
As it turns out, Du Plessis has excelled as Test captain, but Elgar will still have a massive responsibility in getting the Proteas off to a good start in the series.
Du Plessis is expected to play in the second Test at Trent Bridge from July 14, meaning that Elgar is likely to only get the one game as skipper.
Of the 11 men to have previously captained the Proteas in Test cricket, only Gary Kirsten has done so for a single game.
That came in 1998 when the Proteas drew a rain-affected clash against Pakistan in Johannesburg.
Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers, meanwhile, each captained the Proteas in two Test matches.
List of Proteas Test captains (post 1992):
Kepler Wessels (1992-1994) - 16 Tests, 5 Wins
Hansie Cronje (1994-2000) - 53 Tests, 27 Wins
Gary Kirsten (1998) - 1 Test, 0 Wins
Shaun Pollock (2000-2003) - 26 Tests, 14 Wins
Mark Boucher (2002) - 4 Tests, 2 Wins
Graeme Smith (2003-2014) - 108 Tests, 53 Wins
Jacques Kallis (2006-2009) - 2 Tests, 1 Win
Ashwell Prince (2006) - 2 Tests, 0 Wins
Hashim Amla (2014-2016) - 14 Tests, 4 Wins
AB de Villiers (2016) - 2 Tests, 1 Win
Faf du Plessis (2016-2017) - 11 Tests, 7 Wins
