Cape Town - With Faf du Plessis awaiting the birth of his first child, Dean Elgar has been named as the stand-in captain for the Proteas on their tour of England.
Elgar will take the reins in a warm-up clash against the England Lions in Worcester on June 29, but the hope is that Du Plessis will make it in time for the first Test at Lord's on July 8.
"This is beyond our control. From Faf's point of view, his family comes first and I think we should all offer him that opportunity to focus on the birth of his child," CSA Convenor of Selector Linda Zondi told Sport24 on Monday.
"I'm hoping that it (the baby) comes before that, but if it doesn't we'll just have to live with it.
"Hopefully he doesn't miss the second Test. We hope that the worst that can happen is that he misses the first Test."
Zondi added that Elgar would be a capable replacement for Du Plessis.
"Dean has always shown leadership qualities since he has been in the set-up. He is one of the guys whose position in the team is cemented at the moment," said Zondi.
"He has the respect of the senior guys and the young guys in the system.
"Hashim Amla is not keen to focus on the captaincy, so he's (Elgar) a guy we would like to see take his opportunity.
"It increases the pool of leaders within the set-up."
Proteas Test squad:
Faf du Plessis (Titans, captain), Hashim Amla (Cape Cobras), Temba Bavuma (Cape Cobras), Theunis de Bruyn (Knights), Quinton de Kock (Titans), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), Dean Elgar (Titans), Heino Kuhn (Titans), Keshav Maharaj (Dolphins), Aiden Markram (Titans), Morne Morkel (Titans), Chris Morris (Titans), Duanne Olivier (Knights), Andile Phehlukwayo (Dolphins), Vernon Philander (Cape Cobras), Kagiso Rabada (Highveld Lions)
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