Best man unlikely to get job of captain

This is a puzzle of personalities as much as it is a cricket conundrum

THE last time South Africans had to think about who would captain their test team, Claude Henderson’s brother James was the leading run scorer in a domestic first-class competition that featured 11 teams, and the idea of international cricketers being auctioned for millions to play for fake teams owned by movie stars and business tycoons in a cartoon competition was ridiculous.

It still is, but even the Indian Premier League is more believable than the fact that Graeme Smith is no longer SA’s test captain.

Cricket is vastly changed from what it was when Smith was appointed on March 16, 2003. But the show goes on, and a different voice will call heads or tails when the coin is spun in Galle on July 16 to start SA’s series in Sri Lanka.

Whose voice? We will know on Tuesday. AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis are, unofficially, the candidates. Du Plessis is likely the best captain among them, but he is least likely to get the job given his competitors.

De Villiers has proved himself in the shorter formats and would be the favourite, but Amla’s appointment would acknowledge his stature as a peerless player and reach beyond cricket’s boundaries.

This is a puzzle of personalities as much as it is a cricket conundrum. De Villiers thinks fast, acts faster and does not stop to think how fast he has acted before launching another

A captain can win or lose a test. A soccer captain can’t lose a game with a decision he makes on the field

mission impossible. If discipline and decency walked and talked, they would be Amla. Du Plessis has the priceless gift of thinking and acting dispassionately even in the hottest kitchen.

“A test cricket captain is more important than a soccer or a rugby captain,” former SA captain Ali Bacher said. “A captain can win or lose a test. A soccer captain can’t lose a game with a decision he makes on the field.”