Hashim Amla appointed new South Africa Test captain
Hashim Amla has been named as the South African Test captain, replacing retired Graeme Smith at the helm.
The 31-year-old pipped ODI captain AB de Villiers to the post. The latter was tipped as the favourite to get the job, but Cricket South Africa instead went for Amla which is seen as a move to protect de Villiers, who also keeps wicket, from a burnout.
De Villiers has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Test team which is a role reversal from the ODI team, in which Amla is the vice-captain.
With this move, South Africa will have three different captains for the three formats of the game with Faf du Plessis leading the Proteas in T20 Internationals.
Speaking on being named the captain, Amla said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be given this responsibility. I would like to pay tribute to the leadership Graeme Smith has provided throughout my international career. This is an exciting challenge, but one that I take on with positivity with our Test team being in exceptionally good space at the moment with the support of a strong core of senior players.”