Essex's Elgar - 'It's right time to quit for my family'

Essex batter and former South Africa captain Dean Elgar says now is the right time to put his family first after bringing the curtain down on a 21-year playing career.

The 39-year-old has confirmed he will retire from all forms of cricket at the end of the season having represented Essex for the past three seasons and opened the batting in all nine of their County Championship matches so far this season.

Elgar captained South Africa on a full-time basis between 2021 and 2024 and scored a total of 5,347 runs in 86 Tests for his country but will step away from the game to concentrate on being a father to his young twin children.

"Every cricketer is going to experience this in their career. I've been fortunate enough to have a pretty long career of 21 years. It's my time now to call it quits on a pretty long and successful career," Elgar told BBC Essex.

"At the end of the season, I will be retiring from all forms of professional cricket. I feel it's the right time for me, and more importantly for my family.

"I've got a young family back home and they need me more than anything now. They are far greater than any cricket team I could ever represent."

Elgar joined Essex in January 2024 on a three-year deal and in his first season at the club scored over 1,000 runs, having replaced the retired Sir Alastair Cook at the top of the order.

But this season his club sit fourth-bottom of the County Championship, and the left-hander has opened up on his belief that Essex could have performed better on the field.

"My goal was always to fulfill the three years. There were maybe occasions within the three years that I thought maybe I should [leave] at that time," Elgar said.

"But, as someone told me back home, I'm not a quitter and I need to fulfill the three years that I've signed up for with Essex.

"It's been good, it's been bad. Tough, challenging. County cricket is probably the toughest domestic cricket one can play.

"Maybe on the field we haven't achieved as much as I would have thought but also you're playing against a lot of good teams with equal strengths.

"It was always going to be tough to have three very successful seasons but Essex has been brilliant for me and a good way of signing off a career."

You can listen to the full interview with Dean Elgar here.