I believe I still have some of my best years ahead of me – Dean Elgar

Even the most zealous supporters of South Africa would admit that Bangladesh performed better this time. But only by a small margin.

They lost their last seven wickets in 55 minutes at Kingsmead on Monday. South Africa took four minutes longer to claim the seven medals at St George’s Park a week later.

South Africa won by 332 runs with an hour and a minute to spare to secure a 2-0 series victory. The visitors began on 27/3 and were crushed for 80 in a second innings that lasted only 23.3 overs, allowing them to win by 332 runs with an hour and a minute to spare. Bangladesh has only been bowled out for fewer than 50 runs three times in 130 Tests, a humiliating record that includes their 53 in Durban.

All eight Tests Bangladesh has played in South Africa have ended in defeat, five of them by an innings. Indeed, their 220-run defeat last week was their smallest margin of defeat in this country. The visitors’ hopes would have been lifted by their great performance in the ODIs, where they surged to two emphatic wins to take the rubber, but these two results will sting more than most. As it turned out, all that accomplished was to cause them to sink even deeper. Worse, not only did Bangladesh lose, but they did it ignobly by attempting to blame some of their poor play on the umpiring standard.

But that’s plenty of them. When Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aiden Markram elected to participate in the Indian Premier League instead of the ODIs, it was tough to envision South Africa’s unrivalled victory in this series.

Dean Elgar implored with them not to depart, but things appear to have changed now that South Africa has won without them. “I don’t know if those players will be selected again; that’s out of my control,” Elgar said during a Monday press conference. “They did go to the IPL and forfeit their spots,” Mark Boucher agreed.

If the CSA wanted to spin the story in a good light, they might claim that they were always aware that the IPL clash would mean South Africa would be without their first-choice pace attack. As a result, the suits may have claimed that the matches were played on fields where spin would be dominant.

Keshav Maharaj’s presence would not have been expected to shadow so prominently over the proceedings. Maharaj backed up his 7/32 in the second innings at Kingsmead with a 7/40 at St George’s Park, becoming the first bowler in Test history to capture seven wickets in consecutive fourth innings. He was nearly unplayable in Gqeberha, where the pitch allowed the ball to turn and bounce more sharply than in Durban. So much so that if Maharaj had faced considerably stronger opposition in these circumstances, he would almost certainly have prevailed.

South Africa has never used only two bowlers to take all ten wickets in an innings before Kingsmead. They’ve done it before, and now they’ve done it again. Simon Harmer was the other bowler, and he was an excellent foil. Harmer bowls a slow poison that deserves its own category in player profiles: non-Asian attacking orthodox off-spin, which was an oxymoron not long ago.

In the two matches, Maharaj grabbed 16 wickets at an average of 12.12, while Harmer took 13 at 15.15. No other bowler had more than nine strikes. Wiaan Mulder had the only other average below 20 in the series, but he only bowled 17 overs. In the rubber, Maharaj and Harmer bowled nearly two-thirds of South Africa’s overs.

The home side’s failure to convert any of the seven half-centuries they struck into centuries was a disappointment. Since Kyle Verreynne’s 136 not out in Christchurch in February, his team’s most recent tonne, forty completed individual innings for South Africa have passed. Elgar, the series’ leading runscorer, was responsible for three of South Africa’s 50s against Bangladesh “We need to add a few more hundreds to our total. When we get into excellent positions, our older guys need to get to three figures. We understand how important that is and how much pressure you put on the opposition by doing so. Our batting average is our only flaw. We’re very aware of the situation, and we’re working really hard to secure those hundreds.”

Since his appointment in March last year, Elgar has led the team to seven victories in nine Tests. When he took charge, South Africa was in sixth place in the World Test Championship standings. They are now in second place. Their captain deserves a large portion of the credit for the turnaround.

Elgar remarked, “Hopefully, I’ve locked down a style of play that we can all follow going forward.” “I enjoy challenges, which is why, at nearly 35, I’m still playing Test cricket.”

“I believe I have many more good years ahead of me, perhaps even my finest years. It’s a lot of fun for me. I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much if I had been younger”, he added.

“It’s always going to make leadership easier if you’re playing terrific cricket and the results are going your way. Off the field, the last year has been tremendously challenging, but I am fortunate to have an incredible group of teammates who know and respect me as a player and a person. They are aware of the type of cricket I prefer to play. The majority of the senior men are on board. We’re in a unique location, which makes me feel much better about what I’m doing.”

Elgar’s next appearance as South Africa’s captain will be in August in England. In July 2017, he began his career as a captain by filling in for Faf du Plessis, who was on paternity leave and missed the first Test of the series at Lord’s. Within four days, England had triumphed by 211 runs.

“Lord’s got the better of me in that Test,” Elgar admits, “because you’re playing at Lord’s.” England should know he’s a better captain now.