South Africa Test Captain: Temba Bavuma Becomes First Black African To Lead Proteas In Red-Ball Cricket, Replaces Dean Elgar As Skipper In Longest Format

South Africa Test Captain Temba Bavuma will no longer be the skipper in T20Is.

South Africa on February 17, 2023 named Temba Bavuma as their first Black African Test captain, replacing axed Dean Elgar.

Source : AFP

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have appointed Temba Bavuma as their new Test captain replacing Dean Elgar at the helm of affairs in red-ball cricket. While Bavuma has retained his position as the captain of the ODI team, his first assignment as a full-time leader in the game's purest format will be the forthcoming series against West Indies. With this announcement, the 32-year-old became the first Black African to lead South Africa in Test match cricket.

However, the CSA has confirmed on Friday that Bavuma will no longer be South Africa's T20I captain. However, the new T20I skipper has not yet been revealed and will be named when the white-ball squads for the West Indies series are announced.

Director of Cricket (DoC), Cricket South Arica, Enoch Nkwe welcomed Bavuma as the team's new red-ball captain.

"Cricket South Africa would like to welcome Temba as the new captain of the Proteas Men's national team. He is a player that has vast captaincy experience both at domestic level and on the international stage having led both the ODI and T20I teams since March 2021 when he was appointed," Nkwe stated as per an official release on their website.

Introducing the new #Proteas Test captain - Temba Bavuma 💪

He remains captain of the ODI side while he has opted to relinquish the captaincy of the T20I side. #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/WgsbHhEgss

— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) February 17, 2023

"We trust he will deliver on all our expectations and help carry the team forward after some excellent work by his predecessor Dean during the same period. At the same time I would like to sincerely thank Dean for all his commitment to the role over the past two years. He helped the team navigate through some stormy waters and put them in good position on the ICC World Test Championship table," he added.

"Both men have made us proud with the work they have done within the wider Proteas group and look forward to the next step in what is a new era for the Proteas under the leadership of dual coaches Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter," the ex-Proteas cricketer said.

As far as South Africa's squad for West Indies Tests are concerned, Tony de Zorzi has received a maiden call-up while Senuran Muthusamy and  Keegan Petersen have made comebacks.