The Great Gamble
There was a time, not too long ago, when the mere mention of money was anathema in sports ~ professionals were allowed in Wimbledon for the first time in 1968, and in the Olympics only from 1988.
In a recent development, former South African skipper Graeme Smith, who has been appointed South Africa’s director of cricket for the next two years on Friday, has confirmed that Quinton de Kock will not be handed the additional responsibility of Test captaincy.
“The one thing I can confirm is that Quinton will be our white-ball captain and he won’t be the Test captain going forward,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Smith as saying. (via IANS)
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“We want to keep Quinton fresh and playing well. I’ve always believed, having been in the job myself, that captaining all three formats is challenging. We’ve seen a number of nations trying to figure out what’s best and I think across three formats, it probably doesn’t work,” he added.
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“From a workload and mental capacity, we felt that to burden him with all three formats wouldn’t be beneficial for us. And with the style of personality and player that he is, we want to keep him as expressive as possible,” he added.
South Africa’s next Test assignment is in July-August when they are scheduled to tour West Indies. Cricket South Africa (CSA) will have to decide prior to that who they are going to entrust the responsibility with.
Smith, however, has not given any hints whatsoever regarding who the potential candidates can be.
“There’s no one person you can pinpoint,” he said. “There are a lot of players on a similar level.”
“We’ve got to understand the personalities, look at the people and maybe take a risk on someone potentially and back them,” Smith said. “Coming from a person who a risk was taken on, it is something we would consider,” he concluded.
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