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One of Faf du Plessis' main motivations for giving up the Proteas captaincy earlier this year is because he wants to change South African cricket's attitude towards leadership.
The 35-year-old veteran believes the local game lacks a culture of continuity and deeper co-operation when it comes to cultivating and maintaining a strong group of leaders.
Quinton de Kock, Du Plessis' successor in limited overs formats, recently admitted that he's "still figuring out things" following a distinctly up-and-down start to his tenure, suggesting that South Africa's captains continue to have to rely on learning on-the-job.
"In terms of new leadership roles, I think it’s something that we need to make sure gets some attention," said Du Plessis via an audio clip released by Cricket South Africa.
"It's a structure that's not there in South African cricket. We need to start seeing the value of it (mentoring new leaders), that we start assisting players who find themselves in new roles."
He concedes though that it's not just senior players' perceived apathy towards still contributing advice and insights that creates the problem.
"Something that's very much part of our culture is that we don't ask for help too often. We tend to act like we have it all figured out. This is a real opportunity for us now to change this for the better.
"We have a lot of guys who've played a bit of cricket, but are relatively 'young' in terms of leadership. Not a lot of our players have captained a lot of games. That's okay, you can still grow a new leadership group of five or six players that can drive the culture for the next three to four years, but they need support."
Du Plessis, who admits that he'll "always miss" captaincy, hopes to be a catalyst in that regard.
"The time is right for me to move on to a position where I help grow new leaders. It's something that’s lacking," he said.
"I want to make sure I add some value. I want to help guys in this process, to be the guy that's there for them if they need someone to talk to. Every time someone else takes over, it’s almost as if they just have to find their own way. Providing assistance is something that I’ve looked as as something that can provide a real purpose for me in the next year."
- Compiled by Heinz Schenk
