South Africa have excelled under Du Plessis’ leadership
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
South Africa’s convenor of selectors Linda Zondi has revealed that Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers will hold a meeting to discuss about the Test captaincy.
Du Plessis has been the Proteas’ interim captain since their Test series against New Zealand in August as regular skipper De Villiers was sidelined with an elbow injury.
Coming into the tour of Australia, De Villiers had to undergo surgery and Du Plessis retained his position as stand-in captain.
In the time that Du Plessis has been Test captain, South Africa have enjoyed a lot of success as they beat New Zealand 1-0 and Australia 2-1. Furthermore, in the ODI series that took place between the two series, Du Plessis was at the helm as South Africa whitewashed Australia 5-0.
“It would be naïve from us not to discuss it … looking at the reports and feedback based on the tours that we had. That discussion will always be there,” Zondi told Sport24.
Zondi added that in the meeting, they would be “evaluating how our stand-in captain did, and where our full captain AB de Villiers’ state of mind is”.
As of now though, Zondi made it clear that De Villiers is still the country’s Test captain even though South Africa have fared extremely well under the leadership of Du Plessis.
“I’ve always stuck to one principle in terms of making sure we have options and a back-up system … a pool of players for the future,” he said. “We have stuck to that from a leadership point of view.
“The issue that has come up now is that Faf has given us that option … we do have a leader who is capable to lead from a Test point of view.
“He has done a very good job for the country and the Proteas and he also gives us that depth. But, the principle remains. We had a captain before we left for Australia and the stand-in captain has done well.
“For now, the status quo remains until whatever decision from Cricket South Africa (CSA) or myself comes up. We had a stand-in captain, and our captain was here in South Africa.”
When asked about De Villiers’ recovery, Zondi admitted that he was unsure when the 32-year-old would be fully fit.
“The last time I spoke to our medical team they said AB was still going through the medical processes,” he said. “I will be guided by them. They will have to give us the green light in terms of AB’s progress.”