Quinton de Kock won't be South Africa's captain in Test cricket, confirms Graeme Smith

South Africa Cricket on Friday announced that former captain Graeme Smith will be taking over the role of director of cricket for a period of two-years. Smith was earlier appointed to the role in an interim capacity for a period of three months but now the former left-handed opener will take over the charge for two years.

Smith, as soon as being confirmed for the role, made a huge announcement that Quinton de Kock would not be leading the Proteas in Test cricket. While Smith didn’t announce any names for the role, the former South African skipper did hint that a youngster could potentially take over the charge in the longest format of the game.

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Explaining the decision, Smith said that the board doesn’t want to put too much pressure on de Kock and wants to keep him fresh and in-form. Smith further said that captaincy across formats is a gruelling task for a single player and the CSA wants the gloveman to be as expressive in all three formats without getting tired.

"The one thing I can confirm is that Quinton will be our white-ball captain and he won't be the Test captain going forward," Smith said. "We want to keep Quinton fresh and playing well. I've always believed, having been in the job myself, that captaining all three formats is challenging. We've seen a number of nations trying to figure out what's best and I think across three formats, it probably doesn't work."

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"From a workload and mental capacity, we felt that to burden him with all three formats wouldn't be beneficial for us. And with the style of personality and player that he is, we want to keep him as expressive as possible," Smith said.

While the South African team has lost too many experienced players in a short span of time, there are many players who are still fighting for places in the squad. That could make the task of appointing a captain trickier.

"We've got to understand the personalities, look at the people and maybe take a risk on someone potentially and back them," he said. "Coming from a person who a risk was taken on, it is something we would consider."