CAPE TOWN, Dec 13: Faf du Plessis will lead South Africa in the three-match Twenty20 International series against New Zealand later this month to free regular limited-overs skipper A.B. de Villiers from the burden of captaincy, the cricket board said on Thursday.

De Villiers remained part of the 15-member squad, which includes four uncapped players, for the Twenty20 matches in Durban (Dec 21), East London (Dec 23) and Port Elizabeth (Dec 26).

“A.B. de Villiers remains our first-choice captain in this format,” selection convener Andrew Hudson said in a statement.

“But A.B. is one of the players we need to rotate in the interest of his workload across all three formats and we want to have one captain for the entire series,” he added.

For the two-Test series against the Kiwis starting on Jan 2, South Africa stuck with the same squad which beat Australia earlier this month to retain the No 1 ranking.

Opener Henry Davids of the Titans and the Lions duo of wicket-keeper/batsman Quinton de Kock and left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso were among the new faces in the Twenty20 side.

Squads:

Twenty20: Faf du Plessis (captain), Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, A.B. de Villiers, Rory Kleinveldt, Richard Levi, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Test: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, De Villiers, Du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Jacques Kallis, Kleinveldt, Morkel, Alviro Peterson, Peterson, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Steyn.—Reuters