Cape Town - Failure upon failure has followed the South African cricket team in the last 12 months, but despite the malaise Russell Domingo believes he is the right person to coach the team for the next year.
Domingo returned with the national team on Tuesday following their exit from the World T20 at the group stage, and believes the management structures that he has put in place are still solid enough to take the team forward. “In the Test format, results haven’t been good in the last two series. The public have to understand we played in India in really tough conditions, we probably didn’t have the strike power we wanted because of a few injuries, a few guys were missing,” said Domingo.
“I’m just a guy that will work hard with these players, that’s the bottom line. I know the players support me. I have very good relationships with the players, our work ethic is good, the management team is made up of an outstanding bunch of cricket coaches, they get the best out of the players... maybe not all the time.”
Domingo is contracted until April 30 next year, but given the poor run of results under his watch recently, many believe Cricket South Africa would be justified in calling time on his tenure.
Cricket SA’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat said the organisation will conduct a comprehensive review to assess why the national team has performed so poorly in recent months, particularly at the last two ICC events. Lorgat refused to specify if Domingo’s future as coach would be decided by that review. “A review would come up with certain findings, and then you go from there,” said Lorgat. “To pre-empt that at this stage is premature. He’s got a contract. Before he left I had a view, he has returned and I still have a view. I don’t think I would want to speculate before getting down to the details. We should allow a clinical review (to take place) to provide us with a basis to make decisions.”
Since March last year, the Proteas have lost a semi-final in the 50-over World Cup - following a campaign in which they only beat the West Indies and Sri Lanka among the top teams - lost Test series against India and England, lost a one-day series in Bangladesh and had a hapless World T20 campaign.
Following the most recent event, there was plenty of criticism about South Africa’s readiness and the manner in which strategies were implemented.
The World T20 cycle switches from two years to four years from this year onwards meaning many of the current squad may not be around for the next tournament in 2020. Skipper Faf du Plessis, is however not counting himself among those. “I’m 31, I certainly see myself playing a big role still,” said Du Plessis. “Mentally I haven’t even thought of giving up the T20 format at international level. I love playing T20 cricket for SA and I love captaining the side.”
Cape Argus