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It had better be Kirsten, CSA!

Rob Houwing

If you look at it in pure itinerary terms, there really is no special hurry to fill the void left when Corrie van Zyl stepped down as interim national cricket coach after South Africa’s quarter-final exit from the World Cup in late March.

The Proteas are next in action against Australia from mid-October. Unless some softish scene-setter or unscheduled extra commitment suddenly enters the radar screen, that’s a fair old period of inactivity, so the laboured process that is the search for a new coach is no train smash in those terms.

But the current environment is also, you have to say, a bit like a country nervously being minus a prime minister for several weeks or the supplementary Shakespearean players kicking their heels because they haven’t yet nailed down the right person to play Hamlet himself.

The longer the impasse the more suspicion, inevitably, will creep in that all is somehow not well.

During the restless wait, South African enthusiasts may well have ruefully noted – even acknowledging that both nations have rather earlier commitments, including against each other from July – that fellow-superpowers India and England have got their post-CWC coaching ducks in a row.

The former recently named Duncan Fletcher as World Cup-winning Gary Kirsten’s successor, whilst the latter confidently extended the deal of Ashes-retaining Andy Flower.

Indian reaction to Fletcher getting the job has predictably been a bit mixed, especially given his known distaste for public profile aspects ... and India is not exactly shy of a mass-media scrum!

But whatever you might say, “Fletch” at least qualifies indisputably as a “been there, done that” national head coach, after his masterminding of one of the most legendary Ashes series wins by England in their drought-ending 2005.

As for fellow-Zimbabwean Flower, there was little or no dissent when his terms were successfully renegotiated: not only had his own England troops secured the 2010/11 Ashes, but they’d also earned long-awaited ICC tournament silverware by winning the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in 2010.

Common denominator, then, for Fletcher and Flower, apart from their southern African roots? Proven track records at the very, very highest level of coaching.

And frankly, I fancy that is exactly what the Proteas need, too. They are not, after all, in the sort of “rebuild” mode they were when relatively unsung Mickey Arthur took the reins (and admittedly made a strong success of his tenure).

The current South African personnel are largely settled and, whatever you may say about their continued, depressing ability to win major global jamborees, the Proteas remain right up with the elite at both Test and ODI level.

In the case of the latter format, they may have slipped to fourth on the official rankings, but a home ODI series victory over the Indians, shortly before they were crowned World Cup champions, confirmed their robust health in bilateral series.

What South Africa need right now is not someone who will be cutting his own teeth in his loftiest personal challenge yet: they require, I think, a person who could walk in with a rightful swagger if he wanted to (though that is not Kirsten’s style, of course) on the grounds of a confirmed, highest-achievement aura.

If rumours – and in an indecisive climate like the present one there are lots of them – are to be believed, an ever-shortening shortlist of coaching candidates has been narrowed down to overwhelming public favourite Kirsten, long-time SA bowling coach Vincent Barnes, the Cobras’ Richard Pybus and the Lions’ Dave Nosworthy.

With respect to the credentials at lesser levels of the other three (Pybus at least was head coach with mid-tablers Pakistan some time back, and perhaps if you can crack it for a while amidst their never-ending tumult you might crack it anywhere), any one of them getting the job is almost certainly going to be regarded as an anti-climax of significant proportions.

The poor fellow would start very much on the back foot, at least as far as demanding Proteas supporters are concerned.

CSA are under pressure to make a popular and blue-chip choice, not least because their own reputation is taking a rare old battering right now amidst unseemly infighting between senior officials and tawdry reports of financial impropriety which, like that pesky mosquito above the bed in the middle of the night, simply won’t go away.

Gerald Majola and company are not necessarily being tardy over the national coach matter: the dynamic behind it is complicated and delicate, considering Kirsten’s stated desire to have a meaningful break after the hurly-burly of his Indian adventure.

There may well have been a mini-standoff over the procedure to be employed in coaxing Kirsten; he has not wanted to break the door down to “apply”, it seems, motivated by the strength of his bargaining position.

But as Kepler Wessels pointed out recently: “He will respond to being head-hunted.” 

CSA must realise the importance of going all out to hook the rather obvious first prize.

Anything less than announcing Gary Kirsten as South Africa’s coach, whatever it takes, in early June will earn them a heap of unwanted fresh scorn ...

Rob is Sport24's chief writer.

Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
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