Cricket South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith says the the extra responsibility of captaincy became to much for Proteas wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock.

CSA appointed Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar as the new leaders of the limited-overs and Test teams on Thursday, both roles replacing De Kock, who took up the reigns when Faf du Plessis stepped down last year.

The Test captaincy in particular proved to be rather telling on De Kock, who didn’t participate in the CSA T20 Challenge after returning from the Pakistan tour, due to mental reasons.

‘It was felt that the burden of leadership was just too much for a person or player like Quinton,’ said Smith.

‘We wanted to free him up. His commitment to SA cricket is there. We want to get the best out of him as a player and as a team man. He’ll certainly form part of our leadership group. We felt this was the right way to move for South African cricket and to back it going forward.’

De Kock’s form appeared to have taken a slump during the recent series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan where he struggled to score runs.

With Pakistan set to tour South Africa in April for an ODI and T20I series, the Proteas will hope the change of roles will see De Kock score freely again.

‘He’s a proud guy, and I’m sure there’s a bit of emotion and feelings around this,’ Smith added.