Quinton de Kock has been appointed as the captain of South Africa’s One Day International team for the upcoming series. The series will begin with the three-match home series against England where, surprisingly, former captain Faf du Plessis has been dropped.
Faf du Plessis, 35, has played 143 ODIs where he scored 5507 runs at an average of 47.47. He has enjoyed good success as captain also who led South Africa to 28 wins out of 39 matches. He has an average of 57.62 as captain also.
However, South Africa had a poor show in the ICC World Cup under his captaincy, winning only three of their nine games which didn’t allow them to make it to the semifinal stage. He has also been under pressure due to his rough patch in Test cricket, especially in the ongoing series against England.
On the other hand, Quinton de Kock, 27, has played 115 ODIs and scored 4907 runs at 45.01 so far. He led South Africa in the T20I series against India which ended up in a draw 1-1. Along with the captaincy change, South Africa also provided maiden ODI call-ups to five players – Lutho Sipamla (pacer), Kyle Verreynne (wicketkeeper), Sisanda Magala (pacer), Janneman Malan (batsman) and Bjorn Fortuin (spin-bowling all-rounder).
Lungi Ngidi has been recalled in the squad who earlier had missed the Tests against England with a hamstring injury. Even Temba Bavuma too retained his place in the side.
“We all know the quality of the player that Quinton de Kock has grown to become,” Graeme Smith, the CSA Acting Director of Cricket said. “Over the years, we have watched him grow in confidence and become one of the top ODI wicket-keeper batsmen in the world. He has a unique outlook and manner in which he goes about his business and is tactically very street smart.”
”We are confident that the new leadership role will bring out the best in him as a cricketer and that he can take the team forward into the future and produce results that South Africans the world over can be very proud of. We wish him the very best in this new role and look forward to watching him make his mark in this series against the World Cup Champions,” he added.
Linda Zondi, the chief selector, expressed, “We are really pleased with the squad we have selected, it is a good indication of the depth that we have in the country. The road towards the 2023 Cricket World Cup starts now and we want players doing well in our domestic structures to see the rewards of the hard work that they have put in. The pool that we build going forward is going to be vital in the selection of that 2023 World Cup squad but also without looking too far ahead, we are confident that we have players that will make South Africa proud in this ODI series against a confident England team.”
The first of three ODIs will take place on February 4 in Cape Town. The two teams are currently playing a four-Test series, with England leading 2-1 with one in hand.
South Africa squad:
Quinton de Kock (C), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jon Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne
