Proteas: The Elgar era's off at a gallop

That he failed to contribute a run to the victory is unlikely to have weighed very heavily on the mind of the streetwise customer who is Dean Elgar.

Nor even, yet, that three outings as national Test captain - there were two earlier ones in an acting capacity - have seen the left-handed opener average a mere 13.20 with the blade.

What mattered a lot more on Saturday was that his tenure as full-time leader of the Proteas’ five-day cause got off with as comprehensive a drubbing of West Indies as anyone could have wished for in the first Test at St Lucia.