SA cricket embraces football-style setup, no renewal for coach Gibson

Johannesburg : South African cricket is embracing a football-style setup as part of a radical overhaul in the wake of their World Cup debacle with chief coach Ottis Gibson making way for a team manager who will enjoy sweeping powers in selection matters.

This means Gibson will not be the coach for the team's tour of India starting in September, when the former West Indies fast bowler's contract also expires with the Proteas.

"Members of (the current) team management, including the various assistant cricket coaches, will not be retained as part of the forthcoming plan," Cricket South Africa (CSA) said in a press release.

The plan is to adopt a football-style management structure, where there will be a team manager, who will select his own coaching staff and captains in the three formats of the game.

The big announcement comes in the wake of the team's disastrous campaign in the ICC World Cup, where they failed to qualify for the knockouts after managing only three wins from nine outings.

The medical staff and administrative staff will also report to the manager, who in turn will report to the director of cricket, working under the chief executive.

The team manager will report to CSA Acting Director of Cricket, Corrie van Zyl, who will in turn report to the Chief Executive.

The structure will resemble the ones in top European football clubs where a technical director heads the coaching staff and players.

"This change will herald an exciting new era for the SA cricket and will bring us into line with best practice in professional sport," CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe was quoted as saying in the media.

"I must stress that the new structure was not a rash decision. It was taken after much deliberation by the Board, taking all the factors into consideration about the current state of our cricket and also the plan that we need to get to within the timelines we have set."

Gibson took over as South Africa's head coach in 2017 on a two-year contract. Under his guidance, the team enjoyed success in home Test series' against India, Australia and Pakistan.

He also oversaw away ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and Australia. A loss in Test series at home and away to Sri Lanka preceded their disappointing World Cup campaign in the United Kingdom.