 The South African selectors have announced that AB de Villiers will be
the captain of the side for the limited over format. E Villiers will take over
the captaincy role of the ODI and the T20I sides from Graeme Smith, who
had earlier stood down from the captaincy in a bid to concentrate on his batting.
However, Smith will continue to hold the Test captaincy. Hashim Amla will
be the vice-captain for the side in both, the ODIs and the T20Is while the deputy
role in the Test match format will be taken over by de Villiers as well.
In addition to this, the South Africa sides will be coached by former
Indian coach, Gary Kirsten. Kirsten will be assisted by Russell Domingo as the
assistant coach and Allan Donald as the bowling coach of the side.
The newly appointed de Villiers said that he was happy with the amount of faith
that the selectors had put on him and added that he was looking forward to getting
on with the job. He said that he was excited and looked to wotrk with Amla and
Kirsten.
It was said that one of the reasons why de Villiers was appointed as the skipper
of the side was because he was a definite in the playing eleven. De Villiers
has been one of South Africa's most consistent batsmen in recent times and that
would mean that it makes more sense to have him as the skipper than a Johan
Botha who may not play all the games. To add to that, the issue with Botha was
that he did not play in the Test matches as regularly as the ODIs, which meant
that he could never take over from Smith as the next Test match captain while
de Villiers could be groomed for the job.
This also means that Botha will not be a certainty in the side given the presence
of Imran Tahir, who has been tipped as someone for greater heights.
Smith, who was the captain of the South African side for the World Cup said
that he was happy to give way to the younger players to lead the side and added
that he did not think twice about the decision. He also said that he will play
the role of a senior player and help the likes of de Villiers and Amla.
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