After scraping whole coaching staff, South Africa opting for football managerial style of setup

The South African cricket is on a verge of the big change after their abysmal ICC World Cup outing recently. The semi-finalists of the 2015 edition ended the tournament on the seventh place with just three wins to their name. The Proteas had started with three losses in the event with one coming against Bangladesh. The board is trying to take inspiration from football to get their coaching staff in order.

This has led to the Cricket South Africa (CSA) scraping the entire coaching staff including head coach Ottis Gibson. Gibson’s tenure saw South Africa win Tests series over India, Australia, and Pakistan, while only losing to Sri Lanka. While in the ODIs, South Africa only lost to India. However, Gibson being sacked means Corrie van Zyl who has been named the interim director of cricket will need to conjure a new coaching staff for the India tour in September.

Corrie van Zyl shouldered the interim responsibility of coaching

The South Africa board is also mulling bringing in a team manager like it is done in football. The manager will have the power to choose its own coaching staff and captains for the three formats. The medical staff and administrative staff will also report to the manager, who in turn will report to the director of cricket, working under the chief executive. The team manager will then report to Corrie van Zyl and he will report to the Chief Executive.

“This change will herald an exciting new era for the SA cricket and will bring us into line with best practice in professional sport. I must stress that the new structure was not a rash decision. It was taken after much deliberation by the Board, taking all the factors into consideration about the current state of our cricket and also the plan that we need to get to within the timelines we have set,” CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe was quoted as saying by the Hindu.

Gibson’s contract expires in September, but he won’t be travelling to India as the coach of the national team. “Members of (the current) team management, including the various assistant cricket coaches, will not be retained as part of the forthcoming plan,” Cricket South Africa (CSA) said in a press release. South Africa is scheduled to play three T20Is and 3 Tests against India starting from September 15, with the first Test to be played in Vizag from October 2nd.