Ken Borland

All the critics are going to town on Russell Domingo following yet another Proteas failure at a world cup, but the coach himself is defiant that he should not be drummed out of his position at the helm of South Africa’s cricket team.

“I wouldn’t say our form has been bad for 18 months, it’s just the last four or five months, since the India Tests. The ODIs against India were good and the ODIs and T20s against England were good.

“We just did not play the big moments well enough. But my opinion is that our preparation was outstanding, spot on, I can assure you everyone worked extremely hard, we were meticulous in our planning and strategising. It’s part of my job, absolutely, to try and make it happen, to make it all come together, and my impression is that the team does buy into my approach.

“Of course I want to continue in my job and I will just work hard and try and get the best out of the players. I have a good relationship with them and in my opinion our management team is as good as anything in the world,” Domingo said.

South Africa’s premature exit at the ICC World T20 is now the subject of a Cricket South Africa review and CEO Haroon Lorgat, who has previously been a solid backer of Domingo, stopped short of giving him unqualified support. Six months ago, Domingo received a contract extension through to the end of April next year from CSA.

Whether CSA will be satisfied with Domingo eking out results until then remains to be seen, but the man in the firing line does not feel he should go.

“The margins in international cricket are very small and there’s just a tiny difference in making the semi-finals or not. Look at India getting out of jail against Bangladesh. There will always be questions after you fall out of an event like that, but small things just didn’t go for us,” Domingo said.

Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat said on Saturday that national coach Russell Domingo’s contract has been extended for another year because they were considering the negative impact uncertainty could have on World Cup preparations.

Lorgat announced on Saturday that Domingo and national team manager Mohammed Moosajee both had their contracts extended to April 2016 by the CSA board, who had met on Friday night.

“We’re very satisfied with the performance of the head coach and manager, in particular during this time of transition with great players retiring over the last couple of years. It has been seamless and the board was very impressed by the way the team grew back to number one in Tests and has migrated up the rankings in ODIs as well,” Lorgat said.

“Our focus is now on the World Cup and the team has progressed very well. We knew their prowess in Test cricket, but Russell is building a very competitive team in ODIs as well. His contract was due to expire at the end of the World Cup in April 2015, but we wanted to take away that uncertainty.”

Lorgat said negotiations over the contracts of Domingo’s eight management members –Adrian Birrell (assistant), Allan Donald (bowling), Claude Henderson (spin bowling), Paddy Upton (performance), Greg King (conditioning), Riaan Muller (logistics), Brandon Jackson (physiotherapist) and Prasanna Agoram (video analysis) – would now commence.

Domingo’s good fortune in terms of his contract was slightly marred by a shock announcement at Saturday’s AGM, which was generally marked by an air of contentment, by Advocate Vusi Pikoli, the chairman of the ethics sub-committee and a former head of the National Prosecuting Authority, that his committee were deeply concerned by the allegations of ball-tampering surrounding the national team.

“The committee wishes to raise its deep concern on the recent reports and allegations of ball-tampering. The committee takes a very dim view of these reports and wishes to send out a strong message that such behaviour cannot be tolerated. Such conduct damages our fragile reputation.

“It’s not about what others do, it’s about our reputation and we urge our lads to take this matter very seriously,” Pikoli said in his report to the AGM.

– http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/domestic/proteas-coach-contract-extended-1.1750447#.VBvlWfmSxe8

It was a month ago to the day that Russell Domingo, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers set off from O.R. Tambo International Airport on a new era for South African cricket, their first assignment a daunting tour of Sri Lanka, where the Proteas have found it hardest to win.

On Tuesday they returned triumphant, full of smiles, after beating the in-form Sri Lankans on their home turf in both the ODI and Test series; the Proteas are as much champions as the Springbok Sevens team who were on the same flight from Dubai with Commonwealth Games gold medals.

“We knew going to Sri Lanka would be a very tough tour, but the ODI series win gave us lots of confidence. We weren’t favourites for the Tests, though, but winning the first Test gave us that tag. Everyone just clicked at the same time,” Test captain Amla said on Tuesday.

“Last year we came back from a tough tour of Sri Lanka and we were much more glum. Now we are very excited and proud, beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in both formats. Our record there over the last 20 years shows how tough it is to do that,” coach Domingo said.

Six-and-a-half months out from the World Cup, ODI captain De Villiers was also understandably buoyant as the 2-1 series victory takes their record to 10 wins in their last 14 matches.

“You can never be perfectly ready for a World Cup, but I’m very comfortable with where we are at the moment. The players have a greater understanding of their roles and I know my players better, who I can rely on in pressure situations, who I can strike with and who I maybe need to rally around at times,” De Villiers said.

Despite the positive mood, however, the Proteas know that there are areas that they need to address if they are to hang on to the number one Test ranking and be challengers at the World Cup.

The Test side can obviously do with a more solid opening partnership and a more consistent frontline spinner and, although Domingo backed the incumbents in these positions, his eye is surely on them.

“We know we’re not the finished article, there’s still a lot of tinkering to be done. This is very much a new start, with new faces. I’m not saying we’re going to experiment, but there is space for one or two guys to get an opportunity. Sri Lanka is not the right place to blood new players and it was our most experienced players who really fired over there,” Domingo said.

Imran Tahir, despite his heroics with the bat at the end of the second Test, tended to provide a four-ball an over with his leg-spin and an average of 47.17 after 15 Tests as a strike bowler suggests that the selectors’ patience may be wearing thin when it comes to five-day cricket.

“It’s tough for a spinner in the sub-continent because there’s a lot of pressure on you, people always look to the spinner to do well. But Sri Lanka have some of the best players of spin in the world and I honestly felt Imran bowled better than his figures suggest. His performances weren’t as good as he knows he can be, but he can still offer a helluva lot in all formats,” Domingo said in defence of the leggie, who took four wickets at an average of 84 in the Tests.

“There are not many opening batsmen with the pedigree of Alviro Petersen in domestic cricket and, with Graeme Smith retiring, it’s very difficult to replace two opening batsmen. Alviro has played 32 Tests and scored five centuries, including knocks of 182 and 156, so he has the potential to play match-winning innings, he has the experience and a calm head,” Domingo said of the 33-year-old, who has scored just 133 runs in eight innings this year.

For De Villiers, the biggest improvement needed in the ODI side is in the fielding.

“There are lots of areas to improve, but especially in the field. We’re not the strongest in the world there, but we should be in the top two or three by the time we get to the World Cup,” De Villiers said.

The tour to Zimbabwe – the one-off Test in Harare starts on August 9 and is followed by three ODIs and then a triangular series of four more matches with Australia – provides the opportunity for some fringe players to get game time.

Whether the management feel comfortable moving Stiaan van Zyl, a number three batsman, up to open instead of Petersen, or giving Quinton de Kock the job, and causing more questions over who takes the gloves, remains to be seen. And off-spinner Dane Piedt could be worth a run in relatively stress-free conditions in Zimbabwe.

Domingo did suggest, however, that the three ODIs before the triangular series could see some senior players being rested, particularly the pace bowlers.

“Nobody wants to be rested for Test matches and it’s not easy to chop and change the Test side, but in the ODIs we’ll probably rest Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander for the first three games. We played those three frontline seamers consistently in an ODI series for the first time in Sri Lanka and it paid off in a big way, but the Zimbabwe games are an ideal opportunity to look at younger fast bowlers like Kyle Abbott and Wayne Parnell, who haven’t had much game time,” the coach said.

While De Villiers said he felt much more confident in the ODI captaincy, the promotion of Amla to Test skipper was another major feature of the Sri Lankan tour. And, as expected, it was an obvious success.

“The Tests were a testament to Hashim’s ability to lead, he got the best out of his players and, in a very tense situation on the last day, they pulled through. That’s partly because the captain had such a cool head himself,” Domingo said.

The determination of this Proteas side can perhaps be summed up in Amla’s tenacious first-innings century in the second Test and the new captain admitted that he felt some relief after his 139 not out followed innings of 11 and 22 in Galle.

“You want to contribute as captain and, although it is still a bit too early to tell whether the captaincy affects by batting, I was really glad to get a century under the belt, it settled me into the captaincy.

“The final day in Colombo showed the extreme hunger and passion in this side to represent our country as best we can. The guys put averages aside, put the ego that makes you want to score runs to one side. The best example of that was JP Duminy, who scored six runs off 123 balls, which is never easy to do. But that’s what you need to be successful,” Amla said.

This Proteas side certainly seem to know the magic formula of success and the new era under Amla has enjoyed the smoothest of introductions.

Russell Domingo joked yesterday that he would have given away his children if offered beforehand a score of 172 for four in the ICC World T20 semi-final and, even though that tournament once again ended in disappointment for South Africa, the coach is confident that the Proteas will become world champions one day soon.

“It’s an important year ahead for South African cricket, we start planning for that dreaded competition that all South Africans hate – the World Cup – but like the New Zealand rugby team after years of heartache, our team is not far away from becoming world champions in one of the limited-overs formats,” Domingo told a gathering yesterday of the sport’s major stakeholders at the Repucom Breakfast to announce their marketing research results.

South Africa coach Russell Domingo

“I can assure you that we have got the players, we just need to support them. The players believe that they are under more scrutiny than anyone else in these tournaments, which is probably fair, but there is a maturity in the side now and they deal with pressure so much better. I know we didn’t win the World T20 semi-final, but if someone had offered me a score of 172 for four beforehand, I would have almost given away my children for it!,” Domingo added.

South Africa are also going to have to find a new Test captain and fill the gaps created by the retirements of Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith, but Domingo said there are capable replacements in the system, although they will need to be given time to find their feet.

“The biggest thing the South African public must come to terms with is that whoever replaces them needs to be given time, like Jacques was at the start of his career. They need to be allowed to develop, but the game moves on and it will be a new and exciting team taking a different direction. We’ve got to be patient.

“As far as the captaincy goes, there are three or four good candidates that I would feel comfortable with, so there’s a lot of good leadership in the team,” Domingo said.

Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat said the panel set up to choose the new Test captain are still doing their work.

“The selectors met earlier this week, but I still want to talk to the candidate as well. It’s a board appointment on the back of that panel’s recommendation and we will finalise our thoughts on June 3,” Lorgat said.

Despite the disappointment of having to host a curtailed tour by India, Lorgat said CSA are on track to only narrowly miss their financial targets for 2013/14.

“We targeted R280 million profit for this financial year and I reckon we’ll be less than R20 million short despite not having the full India tour. This is partly due to the exchange rate, we don’t mind the dollar rate and the weakening of the rand because that has cushioned the knock, but we’ve also stripped a lot of the costs out of the system,” Lorgat said.

Haroon Lorgat pointed out the positive

Comparisons are often made between cricket and the two other major sports in South Africa – football and rugby – but, according to Repucom, CSA are doing well.

Proteas coverage attracted a total unique TV audience, across both the SABC and SuperSport, of 14.02 million people, compared to 13.3 million for rugby and 19.61 million for soccer.

Domestic cricket received 290 hours of live coverage, compared to 65 hours for the Currie Cup, 236 hours for SuperRugby and 346 hours for the Absa Premiership.

CSA differs from rugby and football, however, in that the majority of their money comes from overseas.

“The model of cricket is based on international revenue, the vast majority of our money comes from offshore. Probably half our income is from broadcast rights and 80% of that is offshore,” Lorgat confirmed, which explains why CSA can afford to push the development and spread of the game on free-to-air TV.

Even the relationship with the Board of Control for Cricket in India is looking more rosy, according to Lorgat, whose arch-nemesis, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the BCCI president, is in danger of being jailed for fraud and corruption.

“We’ve cleared some air with the BCCI and we’re in a better space with them. But the wheel has turned and now they have issues and are inward-looking,” Lorgat said.