All you need to know about South Africa's T20 captains
South Africa may not have any World Cups to their name but that doesn’t deny that they are one of the strongest cricket teams in the world in any format. In T20s, they have some of the finest players of the format in the world, including AB de Villiers, David Miller, Quinton de Kock and many more.
Over the years, the South African T20 team has been captained by nine different cricketers. Most of them have contributed immensely to the Proteas team, both as a player and as a captain.
Here is a list of all of South Africa’s T20 skippers and how they have fared.
#1. Graeme Smith
The most successful Test skipper in history, Graeme Smith was one of the world’s finest batsmen during his playing days and undoubtedly the greatest captain South Africa ever had.
From 2005-2011, Smith played 33 T20 internationals for South Africa, scoring 982 runs at an average of 31.67 and at a strike rate of 127.53, with an unbeaten 89 against Australia at Johannesburg being his T20I score.
The left-handed opener captained South Africa in 27 T20 matches, with the Proteas winning 18 of them, and losing nine of them. He led South Africa in three T20 World Cups, in 2007, 2009, and 2010 with South Africa winning 11 matches combined in all the tournaments and losing five.
Under his leadership, South Africa came very close to winning the 2009 World T20 but they were eliminated in the semi-final, courtesy of a seven-run defeat against eventual winners Pakistan.
Smith resigned from the T20 captaincy in August 2010. With 18 wins, he is the second most successful T20I captain of South Africa and his win percentage of 66.67% is the highest for a South African T20 skipper who has led his team on more than 15 occasions.
| Matches captained | Won | Lost | NR | Win % |
| 27 | 18 | 9 | - | 66.67% |