Ken Borland

Graeme Smith is now the full-time Director of Cricket for Cricket South Africa for the next two years and one of the first decisions he announced after his permanent capacity was confirmed on Friday is that Quinton de Kock will not be the Proteas Test captain.

Wicketkeeper De Kock is currently South Africa’s captain for ODIs and T20 Internationals, as well as being a key batsman across all three formats. There are few other realistic contenders who are certain of their place in the five-day team. The Proteas are scheduled to play two Tests in the West Indies in July/August.

Smith, the Proteas’ record-breaking captain from 2003 to 2014, said there was the threat of burnout if De Kock was also made Test captain, as well as keeping wicket and being arguably their most important batsman. The 27-year-old De Kock has made it clear that he does not want to give up the gloves.

“There’s no one person right now that we are looking at but I can tell you that the Test captain is not going to be Quinton. So it will be who escalates themselves as a consistent performer, who steps forward and has the respect of the team. Quinton is our white-ball captain but he won’t be doing the job in Test cricket as well.

“We want to keep Quinton fresh and playing well, and to be the captain in all three formats is very challenging. It probably won’t work. Just in terms of workload and mental capacity, being captain in all three formats probably isn’t going to be beneficial. We also have to consider the style of personality and player that Quinton is, and keep him as free and fresh as possible,” Smith said on Friday.

CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul on Friday hailed Smith for the top-class leadership skills he has shown as the director of cricket in an interim capacity and announced that he had now received a two-year contract.

“It gives me great pleasure to contract Graeme permanently through to March 31, 2022 and I thank him for the willingness he showed to come on board and all the hard work he has done so far. I’m not sure anyone’s administrative career has started off with so many challenges, but he has looked at cricket administration in a different way in a very difficult time.

“We wanted to appoint him permanently from the word go in December, but there was a lot of uncertainty and we both wanted to see if the partnership worked. It has definitely worked well and Graeme’s leadership is vital to us, we’re extremely happy with his performance and he has also played a big role in this Covid-19 crisis,” Faul said.

Smith said he had agreed to become Director of Cricket on a fulltime basis because he wanted to make a difference for the sport in South Africa and get the Proteas back to the top of the world game.

“I would be lying if I said there was 100% certainty when I took on the job because there was so much doubt on all fronts. But operationally I’ve now got to know the staff and there are a lot of hardworking people who are passionate about the game. I feel more invested now, I care about the national team and the business side more than I used to now as well.

“I want to get stuck in and make a difference. We need to make good, consistent decisions over a period of time when it comes to the Proteas and grow our pool of players. We need to maximise our strategies, although our financial position will play a role. The players feel a lot more settled now and we’re having good feedback and conversations with them,” Smith said.

Quinton de Kock has not batted with such assurance of his role or such clinical efficiency in Test cricket before and his career-best innings took South Africa to 421 for eight at lunch on the second day of the fourth Test against England at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.

South Africa had resumed their first innings on 329 for five and De Kock’s fine 85 not out off just 94 balls, with 12 fours and a six spread all around the ground, made sure that the memorable centuries scored by Stephen Cook and Hashim Amla on the first day were translated into a sizeable total.

De Kock lost overnight partner Temba Bavuma (35) before long on the second morning, the diminutive batsman not driving with the same authority as he did on the first evening and edging Stuart Broad behind after he had added just three runs to his overnight score.

Kagiso Rabada then fell to his first ball, Jimmy Anderson finding his pads with a brilliant inswinging yorker for his first wicket in 24 overs of toil. The batsman’s review was in vain as Rabada recorded his second duck in his fledgling Test career.

With South Africa having slipped to 336 for seven, De Kock began playing his shots in impressive fashion, wowing a capacity Saturday crowd.

Kyle Abbott was his partner in a rollicking eighth-wicket stand of 50 off 55 balls, having his career-best score of 16 to boast about.

Once Abbott was removed midway through the session, trapped lbw by Ben Stokes, De Kock linked up again, this time with Dane Piedt (10*) as they carried South Africa through to lunch with an unbeaten stand of 35 for the ninth wicket.

England were let down by their catching behind the wicket on the second morning, with Stokes dropping a sharp chance in the gully from De Kock off Anderson in the third over when the left-hander had just 28, and wicketkeeper Jonathan Bairstow and slip Alastair Cook allowing another edge from De Kock to sail between them in Chris Woakes’ penultimate over before lunch.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/sa-cricket-sport/957580/957580/

Cricket South Africa (CSA) released the schedule for the 2018/19 home international season on Monday and they have entrusted SuperSport Park in Centurion with trying to make a success of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.

The Test match starting on December 26 is one of the marquee fixtures on the South African calendar but it has been played in front of dwindling crowds on the coast since 1966, when the Australians were put to the sword by Denis Lindsay at the Wanderers in a match that started on December 23 and had a rest day on Christmas Day.

“It’s a privilege to host the Boxing Day Test which is an important date on the cricket calendar and we are thankful to be selected because there are only so many matches and it’s all up to CSA. People go for marquee events these days and there is a lot of sport on offer, but a lot of people are off work at that time and there are a lot of people still in Gauteng, so hopefully we will still get the good support we generally get at SuperSport Park,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Citizen on Monday.

“I think it’s not been as successful as CSA had hoped hosting Tests at the coastal venues, it’s only really Newlands that has had good crowds. It’s a bit nervewracking but exciting to see whether we can get the benefit of not just having two weekend days to target but four or five days. Pakistan are also a well-supported and talented team.

“We’ll certainly give it a go and hopefully not let anyone down, attendances have always been very good at our stadium, but the proof will be in the pudding,” Faul said.

To lessen the blow to Durban and Port Elizabeth, they will host the two Tests against Sri Lanka in February, while Newlands and the Wanderers will host the other two Pakistan Tests.

ZIMBABWE TOUR ITINERARY 2018

September 30: 10h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, Diamond Oval, Kimberley (Day)

October 3: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein (D/N)

October 6: 13h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl (D/N)

October 9: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, Buffalo Park, East London (D/N)

October 12: 18h00, 2^nd KFC T20 International, Senwes Park, Potchefstroom (D/N)

October 14: 14h30, 3^rd KFC T20 International, Willowmoore Park, Benoni (Day)

PAKISTAN TOUR ITINERARY 2018/19

December 19-21: 10h00, Three-day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni

December 26-30: 10h00, 1^st Sunfoil Test match, SuperSport Park, Centurion

January 3-7: 10h30, 2^nd Sunfoil Test match, PPC Newlands, Cape Town

January 11-15: 10h00, 3^rd Sunfoil Test match, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

January 19: 13h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth (D/N)

January 22: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban (D/N)

January 25: 13h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

January 27: 10h00, 4^th Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

January 30: 13h00, 5^th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

February 1: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

February 3: 14h30, 2^nd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

February 6: 18h00, 3^rd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

SRI LANKA TOUR ITINERARY 2019

February 13-17: 10h00, 1^st Sunfoil Test match, Kingsmead, Durban

February 21-25: 10h00, 2^nd Sunfoil Test match, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

February 28: 10h00, One-Day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni (Day)

March 3: 10h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

March 6: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

March 10: 10h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban (Day)

March 13: 13h00, 4^th Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth (D/N)

March 16: 13h00, 5^th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

March 19: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

March 22: 18h00, 2^nd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

March 24: 14h30, 3^rd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium (Day)

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180424/282024737865818