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Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma
South Africa confirmed Dean Elgar's appointment as their new Test skipper, while Temba Bavuma will lead the limited-overs teams. The duo will take charge in place of Quinton de Kock, who was the temporary skipper last year. Temba Bavuma is the first black African captain of a South African cricket team. The 30-year-old will lead the ODI and T20 teams through to the 2023 Cricket World Cup. On the other end, Elgar will captain the Test side into the World Test championship's next cycle. Bavuma has also been named as vice-captain of the Test team.
The Proteas team had a mixed sequence of results under the captaincy of de Kock. South Africa lost the Test series in Pakistan 2-0 recently, after being defeated by Sri Lanka 2-0 at home. De Kock faced difficulties in the Test leadership role and was allowed to take a mental health break last month following Pakistan's Test tour.
The new appointments are to bring stability to the team: Graeme Smith
Bavuma has been part of South Africa's Test squad since 2014. He has also been a regular member of the limited-overs teams since 2019. Considering his Test batting average is a modest 32.26, he has glimmered as a top-order batsman in both white-ball formats. Bavuma's one-day batting average is 55.83, and his T20 average is 35.57, with a fantastic strike rate of 133.15. Opening batsman Dean Elgar led the Test team on two occasions when Faf du Plessis was unavailable. Bavuma has featured in 44 Tests, 6 ODIs, and 8 T20s for South Africa, while Elgar has played 67 Tests and 8 ODIs.
CSA Director of cricket, Graeme Smith, stated that the new appointments are expected to bring stability to the team. With South Africa's home Test series against Australia getting canceled, their next assignment will be in April at home against Pakistan in an ODI and T20I series. The Proteas team will then tour Ireland in July for three ODIs and three T20Is. South Africa is currently fifth in the ICC ODI and the T20I rankings. They have dropped to the sixth spot in Test rankings after the poor result against Pakistan.