Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Gerald Majola has announced that former Proteas opening batsman Gary Kirsten is the new coach of the national side.

Gary Kirsten through the years

Majola made the announcement at a press conference held by CSA at the Sandton Conference Centre in Johannesburg on Monday.

Kirsten has been appointed on a two year contract.

His first assignment will be against Australia, starting on October 13.

Russel Domingo - formerly coach of the local Warriors franchise - has been named as Kirsten's assistant.

He has achieved huge success as the Warriors' coach, guiding the Eastern Cape franchise to the MTN40 and Standard Bank Pro20 titles in 2009/2010. He was also named Domestic Coach of the Year in 2010 and has also coached the SA A side.

Former Proteas fast bowler Allan Donald has also been named as bowling coach.

Donald - who was New Zealand's bowling coach at the recent World Cup - earlier turned down the opportunity to join the Kiwi's on a permanent basis.

Current bowling coach Vincent Barnes' contract expires next month, and he will not be appointed on a full-time basis after that. He has been offered a job at CSA's High Performance Centre.

Kirsten, 43, who played 101 Tests for South Africa, recently returned from a three-year stint as coach of the Indian cricket team, whom he coached to a World Cup win earlier this year.

"We are delighted to welcome Gary back as part of the CSA family," commented CSA CEO Gerald Majola.

"We have been through an exhaustive but rewarding process to find the best possible candidates for the job and we are totally confident that we have done just that.

"The selection of Gary has brought to an end a process that started several years ago when he first expressed interest in the position.

"Gary's credentials and cricketing experiences speak for themselves and the Board of CSA is confident that he will lead the Proteas to new heights in all formats of the game.

"It has been highly encouraging to see the calibre of candidates from around the world who applied for this prestigious position and it confirms the high regard for South African cricket around the world.

"Gary will now make recommendations regarding his key support staff and these positions will be announced as soon as contractual negotiations have been completed."

Kirsten said he felt greatly honoured to be selected for this important position.

"In the first place I would like to say what an honour it is to become head coach of the Proteas," said Kirsten.

"Having filled the same position with the Indian national team for the past three years I believe this is a natural progression as far as my coaching career is concerned.

"My coaching philosophy will not be any different than it was for the Indian team. I always endeavour to influence players in a positive way and give them options so that they can grow both as cricketers and as people."

As a player he had a distinguished career both for Western Province and the Proteas. He was the first South African to reach the milestones of 100 Test caps, 7 000 Test runs and 20 Test centuries and, although these marks have subsequently been passed by Jacques Kallis, he set the original benchmark for others to follow.

He was also the first South African since unity to score a century in both innings of a Test match and he stood in for an injured Hansie Cronje as captain of the Proteas against Pakistan in 1998.

Meanwhile, it was also announced that AB de Villiers will be the new captain of the One Day International (ODI), and Twenty20 (T20) sides.

Hashim Amla will be the vice-captain for the ODI's and T20's.

Former captain in all formats, Graeme Smith, has been retained as captain of the Test team.