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Cape Town – The long summer combat against now-departed England in all three formats has only underlined Proteas coach Russell Domingo’s greater effectiveness in the limited-overs environment.
There is a glaring gap between how South Africa fare in Test terms under his tutelage – his win percentage record there stands at a poor 34.78 after the 2-1 home loss to Alastair Cook’s outfit and surrender of the No 1 ranking – and their altogether more convincing record in the two shorter forms in the time Domingo has been supervising things.
The Proteas clean-sweeping England 2-0 in the closing, KFC Twenty20 portion of the tour meant that Domingo, who took over after Gary Kirsten stood down in mid-2013, has improved his victory percentage there from 57.6% ahead of it to 60.71% now.
Under his charge since full-time appointment, South Africa have won 17 of 28 completed T20 internationals, and can be deemed in excellent touch considering that they also beat India 2-0 in their own backyard before the English arrived here, and have not lost any bilateral series in their last four.
T20 is currently the area where Domingo is statistically faring the best, which is no bad sign for the time being as another crack at the ICC World Twenty20 trophy looms large in India next month.
He has guided the Proteas through one such tournament already, the 2014 event in Bangladesh, where they were beaten semi-finalists (having reached the last four for only the second time in five WT20 appearances).
Domingo also marginally cranked up his one-day international record recently as his charges came from 0-2 down to register a notable 3-2 triumph over England; he shifted from a win percentage of 59.32 to 59.37 – 38 victories from 64 matches.
Predecessor Kirsten had a lesser 56% record in ODIs at the time he announced he would be quitting for family reasons, which was a few weeks before steering them one last time at the 2013 Champions Trophy in the UK.
His curve would not have gone in an upward direction at that tournament, as the Proteas won one, tied one and lost two matches, including a semi-final against hosts England.
Kirsten’s forte, of course, was turning South Africa into the undisputed top dogs of the Test world during his tenure, including seizing the ICC mace by beating England away in 2012 and then toppling Australia Down Under just a few months later.
His winning percentage in five-dayers as coach was 63%, putting him in a league of his own among post-isolation holders of that post for South Africa.
Their halo has tumbled rather violently in that format in recent months ...
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
