Botha has been appointed South Africa's Twenty20 Skipper

Johan Botha appointed South Africa's T20 skipper after Graeme Smith resigned from the job earlier in the week.

"Johan was the common choice of the Board and we have every confidence that he will do an excellent job leading up to the next edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2012," Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said.

Johan Botha has had previous captaincy experience, having stood in for Smith during South Africa's tour of Australia in 2009 for the ODIs. He was successful in his stint, and led South Africa to victory in the series.

"Johan has an excellent record as a skipper," selection convener Andrew Hudson said. "He was an inspirational captain when he stood in for Smith in the ODI series victory in Australia in 2009. His appointment is part of the procedure of refreshing our Pro20 squad and also deciding whether to follow the route of having different skippers for different formats of the game."

Botha said he had enjoyed his earlier experience of the captaincy was hopeful he would do well enough so that when the time came, he would be considered for the ODI captaincy as well. Graeme Smith has said that he will resign from the ODI captaincy after the 2011 World Cup.

Smith set to quit as SA's T20 skipper

South Africa Captain Graeme Smith is set to quit as South Africa's Twenty20 captain after recent injuries seem to have hastened the conclusion to reduce his workload in order to concentrate on prolonging a test career that has yielded 7,170 runs at an average of 50.49, a source who declined to be identified told Reuters on Tuesday.

Smith, 29, who has captained his country since 2003, is due to hold a news conference in Johannesburg at 1100 local time on Wednesday.

It also seems likely the opening batsman will step down as one-day skipper in the near future, possibly after next year's 50-over World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Smith has been concerned about the lack of a sequence plan and has spoken on a number of occasions about his desire to finish his international career by playing as "one of the boys" under a different captain.

Sachin's form may help us win CL T20: JP Duminy

Skipper Sachin Tendulkar has mysterious ability to inspire his team-mates to perform several notches up and that will make a massive impact on Mumbai Indians' campaign in next month's Champions League T20 in South Africa, feels batsman Jean-Pual Duminy.

Duminy believes that if Sachin Tendulkar continues with his menacing form of this year's IPL, MI will go all the way through.

"He (Sachin) clearly leads from the front and that lifts his team-mates. He is very inspiring and exceptional skipper. If he fires, others also perform better by another 20 per cent.

"He has been in fine form in the IPL and for India. Hope he does the same for us to win this tournament," Duminy told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Champions League Twenty20 here.

"Sachin helps everybody out and he tries to engage every player. I get along with him very well and had discussions on batting and other cricketing things," said the 26-year-old batsman, who was the inaugural CLT20's top scorer for Cape Cobras but will play for Mumbai Indians this time.

Shane Warne looking forward to IPL-4

Australian spinner Shane Warne expressed his willingness to play in the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League 2011.

The Rajasthan Royals captain, who lead his team to a title win in the inaugural edition 2008, had a three-year contract with his t20 franchise which expired after the 3rd edition.

Although a fresh auction will be held in September for IPL-4, the Australian star is not in favour of IPL franchisees retaining any player for the next season.

Warne, who is currently in England, said he is looking forward to play the in the Twenty20 cricket league in India for one more year.

"It's great here in England, love coming over for the so called summer !!! Hahaha. P.S: Yes will play 1 more year. I'm looking forward to IPL 4!," he wrote on his twitter page.

Warne has been uncertain about featuring in the IPL and had earlier described his chances of playing in next year's event as fifty-fifty.

Champions League Twenty20, 2010 Schedule

DateMatch DetailsTime ISDPlace
Sep 10MI v Lions, 1st Match, Group B
Lions won by 9 runs
21:00Johannesburg*
Sep 11Warriors v Wayamba, 2nd Mat, Group A
Warriors won by 7 wkts
17:00Port Elizabeth
Sep 11Central Districts v CSK, 3rd Mat, Group A
CSK won by 57 runs
21:00Durban*
Sep 12Lions v South Australia, 4th Mat, Group B
South Aus won by 11 runs
17:00Centurion
Sep 12RCB v Guyana, 5th Mat, Group B
RCB won by 9 Wickets
21:00Centurion*
Sep 13Victoria v Warriors, 6th Mat, Group A
Warriors won by 28 runs
21:00Port Elizabeth*
Sep 14MI v South Australia, 7th Mat, Group A
S.Aus won by 5 wickets
21:00Durban*
Sep 15Central Districts v Victoria, 8th Mat, Group A
Victoria won by 7 wickets
17:00Centurion
Sep 15CSK v Wayamba, 9th Mat, Group A
CSK won by 97 runs
21:00Centurion*
Sep 16MI v Guyana, 10th Mat, Group B
MI won by 31 runs
21:00Durban*
Sep 17RCB v South Australia, 11th Mat, Group B
S.Aus won by 8 wickets
21:00Durban*
Sep 18Central Districts v Warriors, 12th Mat, Group A
Warriors won by 6 wickets
17:00Port Elizabeth
Sep 18CSK v Victoria, 13th Mat, Group A
Victoria won in super over
21:00Port Elizabeth*
Sep 19Lions v Guyana, 14th Mat, Group B
Lions won by 9 wickets
17:00Johannesburg
Sep 19MI v RCB, 15th Mat, Group B
MI won by 2 runs
21:00Durban*
Sep 20Victoria v Wayamba, 16th Mat, Group A
Victoria won by 8 wickets
21:00Centurion*
Sep 21South Australia v Guyana, 17th Mat, Group B
S.Aus won by 15 runs
17:00Johannesburg
Sep 21Lions v RCB, 18th Match, Group B
RCB won by 6 wickets
21:00Johannesburg*
Sep 22Central Districts v Wayamba, 19th Mat, Group A
Wayamba won by 74 runs
17:00Port Elizabeth
Sep 22CSK v Warriors, 20th Match, Group A
CSK won by 10 runs
21:00Port Elizabeth*
Sep 24CSK v RCB, 1st semi-final21:00Durban*
Sep 25South Australia v Warriors, 2nd semi-final21:00Centurion*
Sep 26TBC v TBC, Final21:00Johannesburg*


* - Day Night Match