Cricket South Africa : No plan, no hope, no future

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Clueless Cricket South Africa have to map the way forward since they decided to take apart the structures that supported the national team - all this ahead of an important tour to India. More... No plan, no hope, no future Stuart Hess January 28 2010 East London Mickey Arthur's resignation may officially have been caused by Cricket South Africa's Board of Directors being unhappy with his ideas for improving the national team, but the Board remain clueless as to how to get the side to replicate the heights achieved in 2008. CSA chief executive Gerald Majola and Arthur confirmed that differences over the structures around the team had led to Arthur's resignation. While Arthur's ideas appear to be similar to those that had been in place for the last two years, and which saw South Africa achieve noteworthy successes against England and Australia, the Board, who made known their unhappiness with Arthur in the strongest terms, have none. 'We've had a very healthy relationship as captain and coach'What they do appear to agree on is that Arthur's plan - which would have seen the management structure remain the same, but with alterations to the personnel doing consultancy work with the side changing from time to time - won't work. The Board's own plan for the future of the national side will be discussed at a meeting on February 19. Until then, everything is being done on an interim basis, including the appointment of Corrie van Zyl as coach for the tour to India and the appointment of a selection panel, with Majola as convener. Former national captain Kepler Wessels will be the third member of the interim selection panel, and has also been employed as a batting consultant for the Indian tour. The Board are expected to look at other team structures around the world, specifically England and Australia. Under Arthur's stewardship, backroom staff fell somewhere between those two. Despite the unified front they put forward on Wednesday, doubts remain over how well captain Graeme Smith and Arthur worked during the England series. 'I was hoping I would be given the space to make those changes'"We've had a very healthy relationship as captain and coach, we've done everything possible to get the best out of the team working together," said Smith Asked how he felt about Smith's criticism of the coaching staff following the defeat to England in the Durban Test, and then again before the final Test in Johannesburg, Arthur said Smith had been up-front with him about concerns over the side's poor performance. "We spoke about it and together we had plans and ideas that we needed to put into place. I was hoping I would be given the space to make those changes, but it wasn't to be, though," Arthur explained. Smith stressed the importance of staying a step ahead of the opposition. "We've got to get plans in place to match and be better than other teams around the world. We've all had a taste of what it's like to be the best and as players we want to have a taste of that again." With Arthur's structure rejected, and the CSA Board still unsure over their own strategy for the way forward, the short-term goal of achie-ving a win in India leaves Van Zyl in a tough spot. Does he continue with Arthur's method, which once proved successful but has lately seen the team's progress stagnate, or build a short-term strategy of his own? Van Zyl, who admitted to working closely with Arthur as high performance coach responsible for the next tier of international players, said the minimal time between his appointment on Monday and the team's departure for India on Saturday was not ideal. "I've got a certain way of doing things; I can't be different to what I can offer as a coach and that I will discuss with the captain (today)." Wessels confirmed that having worked with some of the players since October 2007, he was well placed to provide pointers on how they may better their batting in India.

[achilles]

This is a classic example of- Apne pairo pe kulhadi maarna :mama:

[Guest DeveGowda]

May be these all Ntini Effect..not sure though... It will be definitely bad for cricket if SA gone backwards..you dont have too many cricket playing Nations at first hand in that also very few quality teams...need as many as good teams... or else in Future cricket may become like base ball...Played mainly in India (IPL)....

[Riley's Girl]

I'm sure CSA has a plan. They're just not ready to share. Whether whatever the Board have in mind is logical, well thought out and in the best interest of the team and sport remains to be seen.

[vvvslaxman]

Doesn't matter. Once when they get on the ground they will forget about those things. We are not talking about Pakistan here.

[Karan114]

Doesn't matter. Once when they get on the ground they will forget about those things. We are not talking about Pakistan here.

Completely agreed - Smith, Kallis, Boucher in particular are vastly experienced and have seen enough of the SA board's shenanigans over the years to be affected.