The Mzansi Super League may have the players’ attention for now, but at the back of everyone’s mind is the upcoming headline tour to South Africa by England.
The fact that there is so much instability within South African cricket is cause for grave concern.
Cricket SA only conducted interviews last week for the very powerful Director of Cricket position, about six weeks before the first ball is bowled in the opening Test.
That person will have to work quickly to either appoint a new team director (head coach) for the Proteas side or perhaps retain interim coach Enoch Nkwe, who oversaw a disastrous tour of India recently.
Former national selector Hussein Manack, former Proteas captain Graeme Smith and CSA’s current Head of Pathways, Corrie van Zyl were all interviewed by a five-person panel, made up of members of Cricket SA’s Board of Directors and the organisation’s chief executive Thabang Moroe.
INTERIM: Enoch Nkwe went to India. picture: BackpagePix.
The country’s players are watching the process closely, all of them desperate to see some sign of direction and stability for the national team.
Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi says: “Whoever is coach, that’s who you work with and you make sure you find a way as best you can to get along.
“As a player that’s not something you have control over.”
There won’t be a lot of time for the Proteas to prepare for the four-match Test series which starts on Boxing Day at Centurion, followed the Newlands New Year clash before moving on to St Georges and the Wanderers.
At the moment, Cricket SA is wrapping up the process of appointing the Director of Cricket, something they will have to do by next week, while at the same time they are also working through candidates for the position of convenor of selectors.
A panel of selectors also still need to be appointed.
BACKED: Titans boss Mark Boucher. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
The role of head coach/team director will be absolutely crucial of course, but does the new Director of Cricket appoint someone in the short term or make a full-time and long-term appointment?
Ngidi, who made his Test debut last year and has now worked under two different coaches with the Proteas, says it will be ideal to have a long-term appointment.
He explains: “It is nice to work with a coach for a long period of time; for example, [Titans coach Mark] Boucher and myself have worked together since I played for the Proteas, and I feel he is one of the guys that understands me as a player.
“He may not be a bowling coach but he knows what gets me ticking mentally.”
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