Cricket South Africa (CSA) has confirmed AB de Villiers as Test captain on a full-time basis. De Villiers acted as stand-in skipper for the last two Tests in the four-match series against England - which the Proteas lost 2-1 - following the resignation of Hashim Amla.
And CSA announced that De Villiers - capped 106 times in cricket's longest format - has accepted the permanent role.
"This is an exciting time for South African cricket, and I am honoured to have been asked to captain the Test team into a new era," he said in a statement on CSA's website. "I thoroughly enjoyed captaining in the last two Tests against England, and although I still have a lot to learn in this role, it's a new challenge that I'm excited to take on.
"I have been privileged to play in several outstanding Proteas teams over the past 11 seasons, and I believe we are witnessing the emergence of another great team. There is plenty of hard work ahead of us. We are rebuilding and have a long way to go to being a finished product as a squad."
De Villiers' first assignment as full-time captain comes against New Zealand in a two-Test series in August. The 31-year-old's future in Test cricket had been in some doubt after he spoke out about concerns over his workload last month, but he later insisted that retiring from Tests was not an option.
CSA also confirmed that Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien and Rilee Rossouw have earned national contracts for the first time. The trio had previously played on high-performance contracts.
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