South Africa’s Dean Elgar has backed fellow opening batsman Rory Burns to succeed the retiring Alastair Cook in England’s Test team.

Cook will leave international cricket after the ongoing series against India later this month.

Burns is among several contenders to replace Cook for the Test series against Sri Lanka later this year – and recently received the public support of former England captain Alec Stewart.

Elgar and Burns are teammates at Surrey, and they shared a key 148-run partnership during a challenging County Championship clash against Essex earlier this month.

‘He is doing everything right at the moment. I’m not here to say yes or no. I’m very fortunate to have him in the changing room with me because he’s a very good senior player and it seems his game is really taking off now,’ said Elgar.

‘Whether or not he’s ready for Test cricket, I’m not here to say. I’m not putting anyone’s career in my hands with what I have to say, but he’s definitely done everything right to deserve that call-up.

‘I’ve watched him over a couple of years. We’ve been teammates back in the day and his game’s definitely evolved a lot. He’s a lot older now and you do mature a little bit later.

‘Hopefully things can go the right way for him.’

The 28-year-old Burns has played over 100 first-class matches and averages more than 43.