Hashim Amla quits as South Africa captain: AB de Villiers steps in to realise 'a lifelong dream'

Batsman pledges to focus on securing 'memorable series win over England' after sudden promotion

AB de Villiers takes over the South Africa Test captaincy mid-series (Getty Images)

England have a week to regroup before they must once more defend their cherished 1-0 lead in this series. They will do so contemplating how to deal with opponents whose captain resigned as soon as the second Test ended in a draw.

Hashim Amla’s departure took almost everyone by surprise, including his employers at Cricket South Africa. He seemed to have weathered the harsh criticism which had come his way in recent weeks, scoring 201 here in Cape Town and overseeing a final day when his team sometimes looked capable of pulling off a shock victory against all odds.

AB de Villiers, his vice-captain, was immediately installed as his successor and, perhaps ominously for England, said: “I’ve said this before, that it is an incredible honour to captain South Africa in any format. The Test captaincy has obviously come at short notice and is the realisation of a lifelong dream. At the moment, my priority and focus is placed on leading this team to what can be a memorable series win against England.

“This Test squad is motivated and determined to turn our performances around and I’m looking forward to taking up that challenge as captain. Hashim is a good friend and close colleague and I am grateful for his support.”

England can be certain that De Villiers will be a much more vocal presence than the studious Amla, whose style was not to everyone’s liking in a country where many sportsmen tend to be fairly fierce characters. The tourists’ captain, Alastair Cook, seemed as bemused as everybody by the turn of events and was heard expressing his surprise to Amla.

Cook was more immediately concerned with his team’s fairly soft performance on a final day which saw them lose six wickets within 43 overs. This was some effort – despite changed conditions – considering that only 13 wickets had gone down in 342 overs on the first four days.

“The cloud came in and it did seem to swing and they bowled pretty well,” Cook said of England’s display. “But it was one of those occasions where one side had nothing to lose and went for it.”

Also those missed catching opportunities – five clear cut, five more that perhaps came into the half-chance category – cost England dear. Had all been taken, they would have pursued victory.

“Over the five days I was pretty happy with our performance,” Cook said. “But the chances we missed cost us a possible victory after getting 629. You need to take your chances. Some of them were half-chances but you saw the difference between the sides. Chris Morris took two half-chances for them which changed things and it would have been a different game had we managed to do it.”

But Cook was able to reflect, too, on the magnificent partnership of 399 between Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. He is convinced that Stokes has more exhibitions in him like his 258 from 198 balls. “We have seen him getting his game in order,” said Cook. “He isn’t going to get those runs every time he goes out to bat, but I genuinely believe it was not a one-off performance.”