Proteas
Botha expected captaincy fate
2011-07-26 20:50
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Cape Town - Proteas all-rounder Johan Botha says he expected to lose the T20 captain's armband and also miss out on possibly succeeding Graeme Smith as the national ODI skipper.
Botha was made captain of South Africa's Twenty20 team in August last year and was widely tipped to become ODI captain as well, but lost out on both jobs when AB de Villiers
got the job in June.
"The captain must be the first pick in the team and with all the spinners around at the moment it's difficult to say who the No 1 is, so I knew it was unlikely I would become captain," said Botha on the
website,
ESPNCricinfo.
Due to the emergence of Pakistan-born legspinner Imran Tahir and the fine form of left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, Botha struggled to make his mark in the Protea side at the recent World Cup in India.
Botha believes the fact that he is not favoured by the selectors in all three formats of the game also counted against him being selected as captain.
"I thought they would look for someone who would be able to take over from Graeme [Smith] as Test captain one day and so that would mean looking for someone who plays all three formats, so I knew it couldn't be me - I don't play all formats," said Botha.
However, Botha said he got over the disappointment easily.
"I was busy playing (for county side Northamptonshire in England) and so I got over the disappointment quickly."