Cape Town - Cricket South Africa’s board will weigh up appointing a director of cricket and establishing a seventh domestic franchise following recommendations made by panels that reviewed the national teams and local cricket.
The Board held a special meeting with the National Team Review Panel last week to hear their recommendations, and among the key points made by the panel included the appointment of a director of cricket to “oversee the performance of the Protea Team,” and that the convener of selectors become a permanent position with “defined responsibilities for selection as well as talent identification.”
The National Team Review Panel was established last year to look into why South Africa’s various national teams – including the senior men's team, the women's team and the under-19s had failed at various ICC events and why the men's team had played so badly in India and then at home against England.
The panel consisted of former player, Adam Bacher, Iqbal Khan, one CSA’s independent directors, the former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar and senior sports administrator Mthobi Tyamzashe. The panel was assisted by Francois Hugo, a Human Resources Executive at FirstRand, Tony Irish the CEO of the SA Cricketers Association, Gary Kirsten and former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith.
Other recommendations made by that panel included: Talent retention, ensuring that the SA A team and the High Performance Centre are better able to enhance the Proteas, improving the standard of coaching and getting former national stars more involved in sharing their ideas and experiences with youngsters.
The domestic review involved various players, coaches and local administrators and recommended the establishment of a seventh franchise, which CSA’s Board will discuss at a meeting later this month.
“Our aim with these reviews is to critically analyse our existing cricket structures,” said CSA’s CEO, Haroon Lorgat. “Where we can, we must improve in both our domestic and international setups.
With a number of local players seeking better financial pastures via the Kolpak route this season, Lorgat said that Board had also approved spending of R100-million to ensure “new coaching structures and individual player performance plans,” were in place.