Cricket South Africa has appointed batsman Hashim Amla as its new test cricket captain. He succeeds longtime leader Graeme Smith who retired in March. Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers appeared to be the front-runner to replace Smith. The 31-year-old Amla had previously shied away from the captaincy role when approached to do the job in limited-overs cricket but had a change of heart after Smith's retirement.Smith had announced his retirement after more than a decade in charge of the Test team.