Graeme Smith chosen South Africa captain

Opening batsman Graeme Smith will succeed Shaun Pollock as South African captain, an administrator said on Saturday.

"It's time to get behind the new captain, Graeme Smith," Logan Naidoo told South African television.

Naidoo is president of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union and a member of the United Cricket Board general council.

Pollock was sacked on Saturday after the host nation failed to get past the first round of the World Cup.

Smith, 22, has played just eight Tests, none of them outside South Africa. He was left out of South Africa's original World Cup squad but called up as a replacement for the injured Jonty Rhodes.