Temba Bavuma’s Proteas Test captaincy decision explained

The decision comes on the back of Bavuma's stunning ODI century largely influenced by Test coach Shukri Conrad during his interim role of seeing the 50-over series against England in Bloemfontein and Kimberley last month.

CSA Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe has given clarity on the move to replace Dean Elgar.

"To be honest, it had nothing to do with trying to make up certain positions or leadership, or whatsoever. The call was just clearly in terms of the new direction that we're going, as a team and a system," said Nkwe.

"We all felt that a change in the leadership was needed and this is the direction that we're actually taking, and felt strongly that obviously the best person to take us into this new chapter would be Temba."

The demotion of Elgar, who remains part of the 15-man squad to face West Indies in the two-match series later this month, had nothing to do with his performance or leadership skills.

"If you go back to Dean Elgar himself, he's done a great job through stormy times in South African cricket – he managed to get the team out of the position they were in, and to put the team in a very good position in the World Test Championship," Nkwe added.

"But yes, we're not going to look too far ahead of ourselves, at the end of the day we'd like to thank Dean Elgar for the great job he's done over the last, close-to, two years."

Conrad further confirmed that his time with Bavuma while standing in for white-ball coach Rob Walter went a long way in mapping the way forward for the Test side too.

"I think we've come a long way, Temba and I, and he knows pretty much how I want to do things and I've got a pretty good understanding of how he wants to be involved and run things," said the former SA under-19 mentor.

"So, our couple of days in Kimberley and Bloemfontein did go a long way in ensuring that we are just consolidating that Temba was going to be the captain.

"Hopefully his performances will keep shining, he's been a star performer for the Test side and I hope long may that continue... I think captaincy sits well with him, to be brutally honest."