Hashim Amla on Wednesday announced that he was stepping aside as South Africa’s Test captain with immediate effect. This surprising announcement came a day after his brilliant double century which steered the team from defeat in the second Test against England.
The 32-year-old made the surprise announcement just minutes after the Test at Newlands ended in draw and after Amla had led a fight back to haul his team from a precarious position.
AB de Villiers will take over as captain for the last two Tests against England.
“Naturally this decision is not an easy one but the more I think about it the more I believe I can be of greater value to the Proteas as a fully focused batsman and senior player at this time or rebuilding our team,” Amla told reporters.
“I will continue to give my all to the team.”
Amla said he had been considering quitting over the last fortnight, even before the start of the series against England and the loss of the first Test by 241 runs in Durban last week.
“It’s a bit of relief,” he said.
Under Amla’s captaincy, South Africa registered out of the 14 matches, four wins, six draws and four loss.
The world number one Test ranked team, South Africa has been struggling the in longer format of the game. The have not won in their last eight Tests stretching back to over a year and Amla’s form has been questionable at best.
He scored 251 Test runs in 2015 but seemed to have got right the balance of making runs and captaining the team with a double century on Tuesday as his stoical performance rescued his side from the possibility of going 2-0 down in the series.
England captain Alastair Cook said, “This is a bit of a shock. He played an outstanding innings, a real captain’s knock.”
South Africa lost the first Test against England last week by 241 runs and play the next two in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The third Test at the Wanderers starts on Jan 14.