Faf du Plessis will captain South Africa in the forthcoming three-Test series against India, it was confirmed on Tuesday. The 35-year-old’s position as captain of the white-ball teams, however, remains on shaky grounds following the management restructuring which saw the departure of incumbent head coach Ottis Gibson.
Dale Steyn retires from Test cricket
Corrie van Zyl, Cricket South Africa’s acting director of cricket who will also head a stand-in selection committee during the management overhaul, confirmed the decision to persist with du Plessis as the Test captain but added that the decision on the captaincy for the limited-overs sides will depend on the new management’s roadmap for the 2023 World Cup.
“Faf will be the captain of the Test team and then we will talk about the white-ball strategy to 2023 and how that will affect decision-making,” van Zyl said on Tuesday (August 6).
“It’s important to look forward to 2023 as well. We need a strategy to 2023, so in terms of appointing the captain we will look at how we approach that. We are having a selection meeting in the next day and a half to confirm that.”
CSA part ways with Ottis Gibson, announce revamped management structure
The deliberation over captaincy was borne following a radical re-jig of South Africa’s cricket management structure, which will now see a football-style team manager responsible for all aspects of the team including the appointment of the coaching staff, captain, the medical and administrative staff. This team manager will report to a Director of Cricket – effectively responsible for all cricketing decisions within the system – who in turn will report to the Chief Executive.
Van Zyl, along with Chief Executive Thabang Moroe, will appoint an interim management team, selection panel and deliberate on the teams for the tour of India. The interim management team will also be responsible for the South Africa A team, as well as the women’s sides, both of whom are also due to travel to India in the coming months.
South Africa play the first of three T20Is on September 15 in Dharamsala while their Test series gets underway on October 2 in Visakhapatnam.
