Proteas batsman Dean Elgar remains adamant that he did not edge the ball despite being given out after a DRS referral at a key stage of the second Test against England.
Chasing a mammoth target of 438 for victory, the Proteas had made a strong statement and reached 71 without loss before Elgar was adjudged to have been caught behind off a delivery from Joe Denly.
Given out on the field by umpire Paul Reiffel after a bit of a delay in his decision-making, Elgar immediately reviewed, but DRS showed a tiny spike as the ball passed the bat.
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As a result Elgar was sent on his way, but upon review of the footage, his elbow can be seen brushing his pad at the same time as the ball passes the bat, and he insisted afterwards that he had not made contact with the ball.
‘No. I wouldn’t waste a referral, knowing I’d nicked it. I don’t play cricket like that. I like to see myself as someone who takes their outs when they’re definitely out. I wouldn’t waste it on that.
‘It’s a bit of an emotional time when those kind of things happen, and I had to simmer down and watch the footage, and I can still say right now that I haven’t hit it.’
Dean Elgar adamant he did not edge the ball after being given out caught behind off Joe Denly #SAvENG
“I wouldn’t waste a referral knowing that I hit it. I don’t play cricket like that. I see myself as someone who takes their outs when they are definitely out” pic.twitter.com/9C1HJyXTTg
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) January 6, 2020
