Quinton de Kock appointed South Africa's all-format captain

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has named wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock as the captain of the Proteas team across all three formats. De Kock is already leading the side in One-day and T20 Internationals and now he would be donning the captain’s hat in the longest format of the game too.

However, Quinton has been appointed as the Test captain for the 2020/21 season only as CSA will be looking forward to finalizing a permanent skipper for the purest format in the coming months. This was an unexpected decision from CSA as eight months ago, Graeme Smith, South Africa’s director of cricket had reckoned that De Kock wouldn’t be made the Test captain so that he could “remain fresh”.

The management didn’t want to burden the cricketer with more responsibilities. However, it is believed that South Africa will be having a relatively lighter schedule in the 2020/21 season and therefore, De Kock won’t be burdened with a lot of responsibilities. Also in the running for the captaincy were openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram as well as Temba Bavuma.

Quinton is happy to continue in the role for the next season: Chief Selector Victor Mpitsang

South Africa will feature in seven Tests this summer. They would be playing two games against Sri Lanka followed by two in Pakistan and three against Australia. Speaking about Quinton’s appointment as Test captain, chief selector, Victor Mpitsang is confident that the wicketkeeper will perfectly essay the role of a leader.

“We are satisfied, as the national selection panel, with the decision that we have made to ensure continuity within the team, while we work towards making the best decision for its future without the pressure of time constraints,” said chief selector Mpitsang as quoted by Sports 24

“Quinton is happy to continue in the role for the next season and is comfortable with the balance of the workload and we back him fully as a captain. We are also pleased with the leadership group in the team and are cultivating a strong individual leadership culture at the same time, so that the team produces a sustainable stream of potential captains for the future,” he added.