Russell Domingo has no plans of quitting his post at the helm of the South African national cricket team.
Speaking at the OR Tambo International Airport upon arrival from the disastrous ODI Tri-series against Australia and the West Indies yesterday, the Proteas coach came out firing in his own defence.
“We are still very motivated, as a management team, to do well and we still feel that we can take the team forward.” said Domingo.
“Until we win a world event, people are always going to question us.”
The disappointment in the Caribbean, where the Proteas finished bottom, is a culmination of a poor run of form stretching back some 12 months. And while failure by key players to consistently perform was to blame, Domingo was not pointing his finger at the players.
“I’m not a coach who’s going to sit here and blame players for lack of performance. I don’t feel let down by the players, I feel let down by performances. The results haven’t been as good as we would have hoped them to be.”
Despite the upcoming international break for the Proteas - an ideal rest period for the side’s star performers - the majority of the squad didn’t return home with their coach. Players such as AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Morne Morkel and Faf du Plessis remained in the West Indies to play in the Caribbean Premier League, while others have gone over to England for the county cricket season.
With the Proteas coming off an extended season that included lengthy series against both India and England, the T20 World Cup, the IPL and now the Tri-series, Domingo made sure to highlight the workload on the players.
“When you are playing that amount of cricket for that length of time it is difficult to maintain the standards consistently,” the Proteas coach reasoned.
“You can’t give 100 percent to 10 different teams for 10 months. Something’s got to give. This loss comes on the back of a lot of our top players playing too much cricket, that’s the bottom line.”
Recently, the workload of the ODI captain De Villiers has been in focus, with questions raised about whether his demanding schedule is interfering with his leadership role in the squad.
However, the coaching staff were quick to back him.
“AB is definitely the right guy to lead us forward in the captain’s role. He has the full backing of every player and every member of staff.” said assistant coach, Adrian Birrell.
With 10 months remaining on his contract and with no sign he would step down, Domingo says his next goal is to reinforce a Proteas first mentality back into the minds of South African cricketers.
“The big challenge is making sure that international cricket is the main priority for our players ... making sure guys are fresh and hungry to perform for their country is of the utmost importance for me.”
As such, the coach will look towards ironing out all the current issues and present a fully fit and in-form squad for the Proteas’ up coming series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at home in the coming months.