SOUTH African cricket broke new ground yesterday with the appointment of Hashim Amla as test captain, the first black cricketer to hold the post permanently in a sport long seen to be dominated by whites.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) had identified Amla, one-day skipper AB de Villiers and Twenty20 leader Faf du Plessis as the potential successors to Graeme Smith, who retired from the international game in March.
Having initially ruled himself out, Amla had a change of heart in recent weeks and will now lead the side to Sri Lanka for a two-match series next month.
Amla believes it is the right time for him to take over after the loss of senior players Smith and Jacques Kallis in the past six months.
"This is an exciting challenge but one that I take on with positivity with our test team being in an exceptionally good space at the moment with the support of a strong core of senior players," he said in a statement.
"I have concentrated on taking my batting to the highest possible level and now I feel I am in a position to make a contribution to South African cricket in a leadership role."
Amla's appointment is surprising only in that he has, by his own admission, shied away from leadership roles in the past.
De Villiers will keep the vice-captaincy position he filled under Smith, and will remain in charge of the ODI squad with Amla as his deputy.
The prospect of De Villiers giving up the wicketkeeper gloves to become captain would have upset the balance of the test side and is believed to have counted against him.
Amla's promotion comes after the SA government recently spoke of its desire for greater racial transformation in the game.
The 14-man test squad:
Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla (capt), Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (wicketkeeper), JP Duminy, Stiaan van Zyl, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Kyle Abbott, Quinton de Kock, Dane Piedt.
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