AB de Villiers appointed as full time Test captain for South Africa

All the speculations surrounding who was going to lead South Africa in the Test format finally ended as Ab de Villiers was appointed as the full-time captain. He recently stood in as the stand-in captain after Hashim Amla relinquished his leadership role. Cricket South Africa came to this decision in a meeting on Friday in Johannesburg.

South Africa are currently going through a rough phase in the Test arena. After losing against India 3-0 they got dethroned from the pinnacle of Test rankings. They also lost the home series against England 3-1. AB certainly has quite a task in his hands to inspire his team again.

For sometime de Villiers stressed on the fact that he was looking to reduce his workload. He also raised concern regarding the tight schedule prescribed by ICC. But it was only after the Centurion Test that he hinted about taking on captaincy duties on a permanent basis.

“This is an exciting time for South African cricket, and I am honoured to have been asked to captain the Test team into a new era. I thoroughly enjoyed captaining in the last two Tests against England, and although I still have a lot to learn in this role, it’s a new challenge that I’m excited to take on,” said de Villiers.

“I have been privileged to play in several outstanding Proteas teams over the past 11 seasons, and I believe we are witnessing the emergence of another great team. There is plenty of hard work ahead of us; we are rebuilding and have a long way to go to being a finished product as a squad.

“We may have to fight through some tough times, but the recent performances of Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma, Dane Piedt, Dean Elgar and others have created an opportunity to build a team that delights and unites our country as never before. I could not be more excited about the future. I am fully committed to the Proteas, but more than anything, I am grateful for the support from my team-mates, Cricket South Africa and the people of our rainbow nation,” he added.

ABD’s first assignment as Test skipper is not before a six-month wait against the Kiwis in a two-match home series in August. Before that he will lead the One-Day side against England and will also be a part of the World T20 campaign.

CSA also announced the national contracted players for the next year, with certain players being awarded two-year contracts. Bavuma, Behardien and Rossouw earned national contracts for the first time, having earlier been on High-Performance contracts.

List of contracted players: Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla (2 Years), Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers (2 Years), Faf du Plessis (2 Years), JP Duminy (2 years), Dean Elgar, David Miller, Morne Morkel (2 Years), Wayne Parnell,Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander (2 Years),Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn (2 Years), Imran Tahir.