Proteas captain Dean Elgar says Aiden Markram needs to score runs and regain his confidence after being dropped from the Test squad.

Markram was left out of the Proteas’ 16-man squad for the three-Test tour of Australia, having made just 185 runs in his last 13 Test innings at an average of 14.23.

“In terms of Aiden’s omission, he can look at it one of two ways,” Elgar said in a SuperSport.com column. “He can go away and sulk about it or he can really work on his game, get runs and put his name back into the mix.

“I’m sure he’s hurting not having been selected for this tour but the door is definitely not closed. He needs to do what he does best – score runs. He then needs to build his confidence up again and get his longer format game back in order.

“He’s a very talented player and someone I look to, to take our team forward in the future.”

The Proteas will also be without No 3 batsman Keegan Petersen, who injured a hamstring while playing for the Dolphins in the T20 Challenge final. That prompted a recall for Theunis de Bruyn, who last featured for the national side in 2019.

“The loss of Keegan is a big one for us,” Elgar admitted. “He has played decent cricket for us over the last year and losing him to injury is not ideal.

“But it’s nice to have a guy like Theunis to look after that experience department. As a cricketer, he’s immensely talented but hasn’t achieved as close to what he would have liked to in the international arena. His second bite of the cherry is going to be important.”

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