Temba Bavuma is the new captain of South Africa in one-day internationals (ODIs) and T20 internationals (T20Is) and Dean Elgar will captain the Test side.
Cricket South Africa announced the appointments yesterday. Bavuma has been appointed until 2023 and will lead South Africa in two T20I World Cups (in 2021 and 2022) and the ODI World Cup (in 2023).
Elgar has been appointed for the duration of the next cycle of the Test World Championship, taking the reins until at least 2023.
The two replace Quinton de Kock who previously captained all three formats. However, his form has faltered dramatically and he has taken a mental health break, so he missed the recently completed domestic T20 competition. Bavuma captained the winning Lions side in the competition.
Graeme Smith, director of cricket at CSA and former Proteas captain said: ‘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.’
Bavuma said that captaining South Africa had always been a dream of his and called it ‘one of the greatest honours of my life’.
Elgar said he knew it would be a challenge, but he was confident that he and Bavuma could lay ‘a solid foundation for us to be able to accomplish the ambitions we all have to see the Proteas go back to the world’s number one spot in all three formats’.
Elgar has played 67 Tests for South Africa, making his debut in 2012.
Bavuma has much less experience in ODIs and T20Is having played only six and eight games respectively. Nevertheless, his early records in both the formats is good.
(Photo: Mark Baker/AP)