Now is the time for the Proteas to span saam and put the egos aside, according to ex-captain Faf du Plessis.
The veteran batsman, who stepped down in February, now wants to help shape the country’s next core of leaders.
While still available in all formats for the Proteas, Du Plessis wants to share his expertise with limited-overs captain Quinton de Kock and whoever cracks the nod as the Test skipper.
The 35-year-old says he already misses captaining the side, but adds: “Part of our culture is that we don’t seek help too often, we want to act like we’ve got it all
figured out. This is an opportunity to look at that and see how we can grow the group.
“A lot of guys currently are in similar positions; they’ve not captained a lot, are relatively young in terms of leadership and not a lot of them have captained a team.
“It’s a great opportunity for five or six guys to build each other up and create a leadership group in the Proteas to drive the culture in the next few years and that is something I want to be a part of.”
The names of Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma have been mentioned for the Test armband.