- Quinton de Kock says his captaincy debut in Test cricket wasn't as difficult in other formats because "there's more time to think".
- But he also concedes he has a great core of senior players to lean on for advice.
- De Kock also heaped praise on 36-year-old Faf du Plessis, whose presence remains hugely important towards the national cause.
Test cricket is known as the pinnacle format of the game, but for Quinton de Kock it's seemingly not the most difficult one to captain in.
The 28-year-old Proteas star - who's added the five-day captaincy to his white-ball cricket responsibilities, albeit only on a temporary basis - emerged triumphant from his first Test at the helm as he and his team-mates crushed Sri Lanka by an innings and 45 runs in Centurion on Tuesday.
In fact, it's the first time he's skippered in first-class cricket.
"It was a little bit easier. You have more time to think than in the other formats," De Kock said following the victory.
"It helps that I have good leaders in my team. When I do need help, I can go to them for advice, guys like Dean Elgar, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma and Faf du Plessis.
"I've never captained a first-class game, but I've been next to Faf most of my Test career and I've learnt a lot of stuff from him so I felt very much at home.
"It was pretty simple out there."
Indeed, much of De Kock's management on the field was effective and un-flashy, his only real challenge being to motivate an initially misfiring attack into pulling up its socks.
There was also a 15-minute period after lunch on the final day, where he had to delay the victory charge with his pace quartet by employing the spin of Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram to improve the over rate.
While it did allow the aggressive Dasun Shanaka to stroll to a 53-ball 59, his field placings didn't become overly defensive in the hope of starving the Sri Lankan all-rounder of the strike.
De Kock wasn't just grateful for Du Plessis' presence for advice, but also for the epic 199 the 36-year-old stalwart scored to instigate the home side's match-winning lead.
"It's important to have senior guys in the team, guys who are experienced. We always talk about youngsters coming through but you need to find that balance between experience and youngsters," said De Kock.
"Faf came out and showed his leadership out there. He has been in a lot of pressure situations in his life and there was no better person to handle it."
As it turned out, this was arguably one of De Kock's (and the Proteas') less taxing assignments.
Yet given the hardships endured over the past year, this was still a victory to be savoured.
"A Test win never comes easy. You've still got to earn it," said the South African skipper.
"We fought hard with the bat. Our bowlers came back really nicely in the second innings. It was very difficult. It still feels good."