Boucher to wait for new convener of selectors before naming captain
The Proteas will wait for the appointment of a national convener of selectors before naming a Test captain‚ team director Mark Boucher said.
The Test vacancy was created by Faf du Plessis’s resignation at the beginning of the year after a harrowing home series defeat to England.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations and a lot of time to think about what we want to do.
“Unfortunately‚ at this stage‚ we need a convener (of selectors) to come in as well and hopefully the convener will be elected soon‚” Boucher said.
“It’s a discussion that will be had and probably debated among a few people. We’ve addressed it in small-talk and we’ve been given the opportunity to have a lot of time to think about the decision.”
Director of cricket Graeme Smith already confirmed earlier this year that Quinton de Kock would only lead the team in the shorter formats of the game.
Boucher said the wicketkeeper-batsman’s workload with him captaining the team in all formats was going to weigh heavily on De Kock.
“I think Quinny’s (Quinton de Kock) workload is pretty high. He showed good results in the T20s and the One-Dayers that he’s taken over.
“The last conversation I had with Quinny around this topic was in India where he felt that the workload was going to be a little high for him.
“Whoever is the captain will probably use Quinny’s brain to good effect as a keeper‚ you see things from probably the best angle. I’m sure he’ll add a lot of value just being Quinton de Kock within the Test team‚” said Boucher.
Dean Elgar‚ a stalwart of 66
Test matches‚ said in May that captaincy came naturally to him and‚ if it were offered to him‚ he would jump at the opportunity.
The 33-year-old Welkom-born Elgar was the third player to publicly raise his hand for the coveted job after first choice spinner Keshav Maharaj and right-hander Aiden Markram did the same since the Test captaincy became vacant.
“We’ll look to select someone else for the Test role. One of the things that we’ve learnt from a side like England is a guy like Eoin Morgan comes in and he’s got a lot of time to plan because he’s not involved in the
Test team.
“So‚ when he goes away from white ball cricket‚ he’s got an opportunity to sit down and plan‚ so when they sit down as a white ball team again‚ there’ sa very clear direction of where they want to go.
“Sometimes when a player and especially the captain is involved in all three formats‚ it can be an automatic swap from format to the other because there’s not a lot of time in between.
“So that’s the positive‚ you get a captain who can sit down and really plan what he wants and he can try to drive that vision to the players and it gives you some freshness when there’ sa short turnaround time between the formats‚” Boucher said.
It’ sa discussion that will be had and probably debated among a few people. We’ve addressed it in small-talk and we’ve been given the opportunity to have a lot of time to think about the decision