Elgar sees the all-rounder in Jansen, but says batting a work in progress

Proteas captain Dean Elgar very much likes the look of Marco Jansen as a developing all-rounder, but said bowling remains his strongest suit.

With South African cricket developing a batting group at first-class level that's very competitive, Elgar cautioned against Jansen not sharpening his bowling artillery.

It was Jansen's bowling that saw him and not Wiaan Mulder being retained for the last two Tests against India.

It was a hunch that paid off with 19 wickets at 16.47 as South Africa came back from 1-0 down to win the Test series 2-1.

"If he's thinking of joining the batting pool, that's quite deep at the moment and if he wants to be a batter, he's selling himself a bit short," Elgar said.

"He's skilled at bowling and he's got all the attributes working in his favour with pace, bounce and swing.

"He's someone I can go to for a hostile ball, so I'd hate for him to lose that ability. He does have the attributes of being a good all-rounder and he's learning the game at international level.

"That's not easy for a young guy, so that's why it's important for guys like me to keep him in line.

"I'd hate for him to focus on one talent. He has the discipline, the ability and the young skill he needs to develop into the out and out all-rounder"

Mulder's the better batter of the two youngsters, but has yet to show that ability consistently at Test level.

Jansen's showed stickability more than flowing run-scoring, but Elgar said he's seen something in Jansen's batting that's worth working on.

"He must develop his batting though," Elgar said.

"He's got a long way to go. He's young and extremely inexperienced at this level. He's learning his batting trade in the toughest format.

"Failures will come his way and he has to learn from them at this