The Proteas need a successor for former Test captain Faf du Plessis. Director of cricket Graeme Smith has confirmed that ODI and T20I captain Quinton de Kock won’t succeed Du Plessis in the Test role. Perhaps batsman Rassie van der Dussen will be appointed new Test captain.

He has captained the Lions at franchise level. He has been the Proteas limited-overs vice-captain.

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‘Leadership has come naturally to me. I have done it before, I definitely can do it. Why I haven’t I’m not sure. But who knows what’s going to happen going forward,’ Van der Dussen was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

‘Maybe when the time came for me to take over as captain at the Lions I started playing for the national team, and availability played a role. You can’t have a captain who’s not there for half the games.

‘I want to be a thinking cricketer, obviously when I’m batting, but also in the field – coming up with suggestions to assist the captain. Whether you’re wearing the captain’s armband or not I’ll always challenge guys to try and do that.’

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The 31-year-old Van der Dussen played several ODIs and T20Is before breaking into the Test XI, debuting in the series opener against England in Centurion late last year. He perished for just six in the first innings, but welcomed a maiden Test half-century in the second. He collected two more half-tons later in that four-Test series.

‘I was really fortunate, when I made my Test debut against England, to stand at first slip alongside a guy like Faf – one of the greatest man managers and leaders South Africa has ever seen – and on the other side of me was the limited-overs captain, Quinton,’ he added.

‘Talking to those guys, learning, discussing how plans come together, and coming up with suggestions, even if the captain uses them or not, that was a real learning curve for me.’

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