Zondo gives skipper Elgar shoulder to lean on: 'He's in good spirits, the sun will shine again'

Proteas middle-order Khaya Zondo said skipper Dean Elgar hasn't been visibly frustrated by the diminishing returns of his Australian tour.

Elgar, the most experienced of the Proteas' batters, hasn't crossed 50 in 11 knocks and in this series, only has a highest score of 26 across the five innings in Australia.

Elgar's have been mirrored by that of the Proteas, with the visitors only crossing 200 once in the series.

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They ended the fourth day of the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 149/6, 127 runs adrift of making Australia bat again.

Pat Cummins declared Australia's knock closed on 475/4 after inclement weather ate into the first three days of the Test.

Zondo said Elgar has been taking the disappointments in his stride and understands what Elgar is going through.

"He's been in good spirits, and you don't see any frustrations from him," Zondo said.

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"I've been a captain before at domestic level and I know how tough things can be. When you're doing it at international level, it must be 10 times heavier.

"He's handling it well, you can see he's experienced, and he's been at this level for a while, so he knows the wheel will turn.

"He must just stick to his processes, the team will gather more experience and come right and the sun will eventually shine.

"It won't stay like this forever."

The SCG has been the slowest of the surfaces they've played on in Australia, but the hosts bowled constricting lines and lengths that didn’t allow SA to get away.

On the same surface, despite the iffy weather, Australia scored their runs at 3.62