Last week, Cricket South Africa appointed Graeme Smith as a Director for the next two years. Being a former captain himself, he’s the best person to lead the South African administration. The very first decision he took in his permanent role is to rule out Quinton de Kock as an all-formats captain, sighting the workload. However, we at Cricket Bloggers think a bit differently. After Proteas’ dismal performance in World Cup 2019, we had clearly charted Quinton de Kock as the best candidate to lead, and it didn’t take long before he took over the white-ball captaincy. Picking the thoughts from the last blog, this blog is our view about why Quinton should be made an all-format captain of South Africa.
Proven Trade
Captaining the team in all formats is a proven trade. If we look around the world, leadership examples of Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli are right at the top. Even Steven Smith used to lead all formats until the time he was an Aussie skipper. Quinny has been a consistent all-format player, and having such a player will make a good leadership example for his team-mates. It will ensure a leader’s influence on all formats’ teams.
As far as the workload is concerned, it can be managed the way it has been managed for both the leaders mentioned above. If required, he can even be relieved of his glovework duties. It can be given to someone in and around the team, who best fits the role.
Test Captaincy Benefits
Time and again, it is proven that test cricket has been the hardest format. And leading the country in this format is the toughest job for a player. The role needs best on and off the field tactics to remain on top. On the contrary, the gains of the role are equally sweet. If he’s made a captain in this format, he can use those gains to the white ball format. And not to mention, it’ll do a world of good to his confidence.
Lack of Relevant Options
Currently, the Proteas are in the rebuild phase. The greats like Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, and AB DeVilliers have recently retired. Not to mention, Faf gave away the test captainship very recently, so he’s not a contender. So, Dean Elgar could be the best candidate for this job, barring the case of his age. At 32 years – turning 33 in the next two months – only 2-3 years of cricket has left in him. Out of those couple of years, the team will need at least need one year to settle down. So, he theoretically has only one year of stable captainship in him.
In this scenario, Kagiso Rabada remains the only player – barring de Kock – to have more than 40 tests of experience. However, the workload has already been an issue for him. Subsequently, he’s a likely one to be rested in certain future series. Given the situations of KG and Elgar, Quinton is the best possible cricketer to lead Proteas for a long time, unless of course, he has denied it.
