Gibson gone, Du Plessis doubted, authority aggregated as CSA hit panic button

“I must stress that the new structure was not a rash decision.” – CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe

TMG Digital

TELFORD VICE in London

CRICKET South Africa (CSA) would seem to have hit the panic button in reaction to their men’s team’s poor performance at the World Cup.

Ottis Gibson is no longer the coach, the status of Faf du Plessis, the all-format captain, appears to be in question, and much of the currently separated authority in and around the side will be fused into one position — a czar of sorts. 

“I would like to thank Ottis Gibson, other members of the team’s current senior management, and our long-serving team manager, Dr. Moosajee, for their national service to South African cricket,” chief executive Thabang Moroe was quoted as saying in the last paragraph of a release on Sunday.

The conclusion of Mohammed Moosajee’s 16 years as South Africa’s doctor and manager has for weeks been a fait accompli. 

His “tenure comes to an end in September”, the release said.

The departure of Gibson, who presided over five losses in the eight completed games South Africa played at the World Cup, was confirmed by a CSA spokesperson on Sunday.

Later on Sunday on social media, Du Plessis offered Gibson empathy: “@MrODGibson gonna miss you coach. Have spent a lot of time together over the last 18 months and you become a friend of mine. You are a great man. Thank you for everything that you have done. We appreciate you.”

Gibson’s coaching crew — assistant Malibongwe Maketa, batting coach Dale Benkenstein, spin consultant Claude Henderson, and fielding coach Justin Ontong — have also lost their jobs.

“Members of team management, including the various assistant cricket coaches, will not be retained as part of the forthcoming plan,” the release said.

“In relation to the imminent tour of India, the chief executive and the acting director of cricket will appoint an interim management team, selection panel and captain for this assignment.

“In the meantime, CSA will advertise the positions of director of cricket, team manager and convenor of selectors.”

Linda Zondi is in the latter role, but has reached the end of his term. He could stay on in a new permanent capacity in what has hitherto been a part-time appointment.   

The release detailed a “dynamic new structure that will … see the appointment of a team manager who will take overall charge of all aspects of the team”.

The manager “will appoint his coaching staff as well as the captain(s)” and the “coaches, the medical staff and the administrative staff will all report directly to him”.

As of now, the closest CSA have to someone in that job is Corrie van Zyl — their manager of cricket pathways — who will serve as director of cricket in an acting capacity until a permanent appointment is made.

“This effectively means that all cricketing decisions within the system will be managed by the acting director of cricket.

That position is, however, separate from the czar’s.

“In terms of the new structure the team manager, similar to football-style structures, will report to the (acting) director of cricket who will in turn report to the chief executive.”

The radical sweep of the overhaul was played down in quotes attributed to Moroe: “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 have called a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

What to do about Ottis Gibson biggest issue looming out of World Cup fog

Should CSA bring the axe down on Gibson’s tenure the sensible option would be to leave the India tour in the hands of a caretaker coach.

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE in London

A faltering team whose seasoned players are eyeing life after cricket with relief, and whose young guns are failing to fire.

A board who seem intent on pleasing none of the people none of the time, except themselves.

A public keen to pitchfork you onto the heap of all those coaches who, having led a horse called South Africa to water, have failed to make it drink and so fulfil their potential.

Who would want Ottis Gibson’s job?

Gibson. He said so after a men’s World Cup in which his team won only a third of their games.

But do Cricket South Africa (CSA) want Gibson? 

The board met last Saturday to try and answer that question, among others that that loom out of the fog of the tournament, and will do so again on Thursday.

What are the chances of finding a credible replacement ahead of South Africa’s next engagement in September, when Gibson will only just be under contract?

Should CSA look for a new coach, or is Gibson the best person for the job because he knows how low his team are in the wake of their disastrous trip to England?

And how does the fact that, for their next trick, South Africa will be in India — where the nightmare of the 2015 test series swirls still?

“It’s a tough tour but you have to start somewhere,” Russell Domingo, Gibson’s predecessor who was in the job during that spiral to a 3-0 defeat, said of the impending challenge.

“We won the T20s and the ODIs, so it was brilliant to start with. But it was such a long tour — we had three T20s and five ODIs and only then did we play the Tests.”

That tour stretched on for 70 days from September to December. This one, comprising three T20s and as many tests, will be half as long.

And the conditions in the tests shouldn’t be tilted quite so far in the home side’s favour as they were in 2015, when the Nagpur pitch was rated “poor” and the Mohali and Delhi surfaces weren’t much better.

“I can’t see them preparing wickets like that again, not with the Test championship starting,” Domingo said.

“I think the wickets we had last time in the Test series was a reaction to what happened in the T20 and one-day series.”

Should CSA bring the axe down on Gibson’s tenure the sensible option would be to leave the India tour in the hands of a caretaker coach.

Domingo has been there, done that and got the tikka masala — and he will be in India with South Africa A until five days after the senior side start the T20 series.

Would he fancy a go?

“No. I’ve done my time.”

Corrie van Zyl, who took South Africa to the 2011 World Cup in Asia, also has relevant experience.

So there are options. But what CSA will do with them is far from certain. They shouldn’t expect confidence in their ability to make the right decision.

Steve Cornelius, the Pretoria University law professor who is among CSA’s independent directors, missed last Saturday’s meeting, the Sunday Times was told.

Asked on email to confirm that, not least because the suits could use all the independent thinking they can get, Cornelius duly did, saying he had an immovable prior commitment.

“However, as good governance dictates, all meeting material was made available in advance,” Cornelius wrote.

“I had the opportunity to consider that and discuss matters with other members of the board. I am therefore confident that my views on matters were known and taken into consideration.”

Let’s hope so.

Mzansi Super League for sure, say CSA

TMG Digital

TELFORD VICE in London

CRICKET South Africa’s (CSA) new T20 tournament finally has a name, and it’s damn sexy.

Say hello to the Mzansi Super League (MSL), which is scheduled to run from November 16 to December 16.

That’s eight days later than CSA have previously said the competition would start, and it will be seven days shorter than originally advertised.

The announcement was made on Friday by press release — or exponentially less glitzy than the launch of the ill-fated T20 Global League in a posh London hotel on June 19 last year, which was replete with champagne and fancy food, all sorts of familiar faces, and journalists flown in specially for the occasion at CSA’s expense.

Somehow, the 571 words of release-speak that landed late on Friday afternoon couldn’t quite match all that in the glamour stakes.

“We can assure fans that the talent set to participate in the MSL T20 will be top class, featuring our established Proteas alongside their international counterparts, while also showcasing our up-and-coming local talent,” Corrie van Zyl, CSA’s general manager for cricket, who was described the MSL’s playing affairs director, was quoted as saying.

Tournament director Russell Adams wanted “every South African to feel that they are a part of a league which celebrates our cultural diversity”.

Friday’s news represents a step forward for an event that was due to be played for the first time last November and December but was postponed in September.

Doubts have since mounted that CSA would get their act together well enough to stage the tournament this year, and those concerns continue to exist what with the first ball due to bowled in just more than a month and so much still to be done.

But progress has sped up. The venues — the Wanderers, Centurion, Kingsmead, St George’s Park, Newlands and Boland Park — were revealed on Thursday and the names of the teams and the “marquee Proteas players and the headline international signings”, Friday’s release gushed, will be made known at Monday’s player draft.

The fixtures and broadcast and ticket information will, apparently, follow next week.

While CSA are at it, they might want to think about naming sponsors.