Why Botha is captain??

[veer]

does anyone know? I am checking his stats and he is 2 tests ad 39 ODIs veteran with not impressive stats.. yet, in absence of Smith and presence of kallis, boucher, ntini like senior players, he became the captain.. am missing something here.. whats the story behind this? the way he is leading is not bad either.. winning 2 out of 3 odis ..

[graphic23]

He's apparently very good at maximizing resources. you don't necessarily need a great player to lead the team. You need a shrewd one.

[EnterTheVoid]

This same question was asked in the latest Bowl at Boy's segment. Here's what he had to say: Medini Mangala: Hello and welcome to Bowl at Boycs. As always I have with me Geoffrey Boycott to answer all your questions. The first question comes in from Rajesh from India and he writes in that he has been wondering why the South African selectors have chosen Johan Botha as the captain for the one-day and Tweny20 sides when he is not even a permanent member of the side. Geoffrey Boycott: It's a good question, but you have to first look at the rest of the players in the side. Whom else would you pick as captain? It's not enough to just say: "Well, I'll pick him as captain because he is an automatic selection in the side." Jacques Kallis doesn't want to be captain. So would you make Hashim Amla captain or Herschelle Gibbs? He is one of my favourite cricketers, he is a wonderful talent, but I'm not sure he is a thinking cricketer. When you are captain, you not only have to do your own job of batting or bowling, but you also have to think about the other guys in the team. You've got to think about their skills - what are they doing, where they are going to bat in the order? When you're on the field you've got to think about tactics for the bowlers and the various fielding positions. Some players, believe it or not, do not want that responsibility. They don't want to be thinking about everybody else's skill and what they should be doing, because they feel it is enough of a job concentrating on their own batting or bowling. So you have to pick somebody who wants to do it, who feels comfortable doing it, who has the character and cricket brain to work things out while doing his own thing. I've looked at the South African team and I don't see anybody in the team that shouts out to me as captaincy material. That they want to be doing their own thing and also think about 10 other players at the same time, particularly in one-day cricket. Everything happens very quickly in a one-dayer. We have seen how fours and sixes get hit. When different batsmen come in you need different fielding positions for them. The whole thing is helter-skelter and everything happens so fast that you really do have to think on your feet. Captaincy is a job that you really have to want to do. My take: As usual, Boycott comes across as this mystic, know it all sage who endlessly waffles on without answering the question. As far as I am concerned, I am left none the wiser and as he didn't answer the question

[veer]

after all things considered, I am still surpsied to see him as captain with factors like relatively inexperience, presence of seniors and also black and white issue that country has..

[EnterTheVoid]

^^ I guess performance is all that counts

[SachDan]

He has been doing a wonderful job both as a captain and bowler. Dunno the criteria behind his elavation to captaincy.

[talksport]

When I first saw the headline Botha named South African - I thought it is rugby related. Once I realized it is cricket related , I thought may be its a South Afriac A Team Tour.... Then I realized he is leading the proper one day side ... The only Botha I know before him is the former SA President... He did not do bad ....scoring the winning runs and all

[Desi Cartman]

i think SA is looking to replace Smith soon as well. I remember reading somewhere that Smith doesnt want to lead the side for more than a 2-3 years.

[riya]

So atlast a chucker became a captain too . What in the world ?