SA name Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma as new captains
Cricket South Africa has made the desired changes in captaincy roles after removing Quinton de Kock as skipper across formats. Opening batsman Dean Elgar will lead South Africa in Tests while Temba Bavuma will captain the side in white-ball formats. Earlier, De Kock was appointed captain before the home ODI series against England in February last year. Here are the details.
Important assignments ahead for Bavuma and Elgar
Bavuma will captain South Africa in the next two ICC Men's T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022 respectively. He will also lead the side in the ICC Men's World Cup in 2023. Meanwhile, Elgar has been given the reins of the longest format and will lead the Proteas in the next cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
Graeme Smith grateful to De Kock
CSA's Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, said they are grateful to De Kock for the work he put in as captain. "We are grateful to Quinton for the work he has put in as captain of the team in the limited-overs formats and are indebted to him for stepping up while the National Selection Panel continued its search for the Test captain."
CSA pleased to appoint Bavuma and Elgar as captains
Smith added that CSA is pleased with the appointments of Bavuma and Dean and the board believes that the two players will lead the Proteas back to their winning ways of old. He said that the pair bring the required stability in both leadership and form to turn the ship in the direction that will eventually help SA win trophies.
Bavuma is delighted to lead the Proteas unit
Bavuma expressed his views in leading the Proteas. "Captaining the Proteas has been a dream of mine for many years as those closest to me would know. This is one of the greatest honors of my life so far and I am looking forward to picking up where Quinny has left off in leading the team into the new culture that we have developed."
This is what Elgar said after being handed Test captaincy
Elgar said the captaincy is the biggest highlight of his career. "I've always said that to captain your country in any form of the game is the biggest honour that a player can be fortunate to receive. To captain my country's Test team, which I believe to be the pinnacle of the game, is the biggest highlight of my career," he said.
A look at Bavuma and Elgar's careers
Bavuma has played just six ODIs and eight T20Is for South Africa, having scored 335 and 249 runs respectively. He is a regular Test player though, having amassed 2,097 runs in 44 matches. Elgar has scored 4,260 runs in 67 Tests at 39.81.
