South Africa vs England, 2020 ODI series: 5 Things to watch out for

#4 De Kock’s captaincy

De Kock's captaincy would be under the scanner

South Africa has decided that a new start requires a new captain. Quinton de Kock has been an outstanding player for his team and has shown good form in recent times. But how will he perform as a captain?

This will be a major theme of the series – assessment of De Kock’s captaincy. If he succeeds, not just in terms of results but in the strategic and tactical aspects of the game, he may replace Faf du Plessis as the full-time captain of the ODI team, even when, if at all, he returns to the team.

So far, De Kock has thrived as a free-flowing opening batsman. But there have been occasions when he has played measured innings according to the situation of the team. This suggests that he has a good cricketing brain. But whether he can thrive as a captain will be, at least in some measure, known by the end of the series.

Du Plessis’ future is uncertain. His performances have dipped and the team isn’t doing badly. What De Kock may do, at the least, is bring a fresh new perspective to the team, one that is devoid of the worries of the past. That in itself would be a big change. Let’s see how well he performs as a leader.