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Cape Town - Cricket South Africa's Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, has outlined the Proteas' plans for the next week as the build-up to the international season begins.
Smith was speaking during a press conference at Newlands on Saturday after confirming Mark Boucher as head coach of the Proteas.
Enoch Nkwe, who was the Team Director during the recent 3-0 Test series loss in India, has been named as Boucher's assistant coach.
"We will be announcing both the Proteas Test squad and the South Africa 'A' squad to play England on Monday. The Test squad will then go into immediate camp to prepare for the Test series and some of them will be included in the South Africa 'A' team. Aiden Markram is likely to be the only player released for franchise duty in the 4-day series as he is in need of match practice after his lengthy injury-enforced absence," Smith said via a press statement.
The former Proteas captain added: "As far as my vision for the future is concerned, we need to rewind to performance excellence and that will be the focus going forward. Our public want and demand a world-class Proteas side and we must deliver on that."
Smith will stay in the role until next year's Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts in April, before heading there where he has a contractual obligation to do commentary work during the prestigious T20 tournament.
He added: "As far as my own future is concerned, I face a very busy and at times hectic three months and I am not going to look further ahead than that. I am sure everybody will understand that.
"Because of the time frame the Proteas Test squad is my most immediate concern and we will be rolling out plans for the Proteas Women and the under-19s, who both face important ICC global events next year, in the immediate future."
The Proteas' four-Test home series against England starts at Centurion in less than two weeks (December 26).
- Compiled by Herman Mostert
