Ray Jennings job under threat following reshuffle

Ray Jennings

South African Under-19 coach Ray Jennings could lose his job days after creating history with his side by winning the World Cup 2014 in the United Arab Emirates. According to the new restructure announced by the Cricket South Africa, the position of Jennings will not exist any more.

Jennings has been occupying the position since 2006; but as per the reshuffle, instead of one-man doing the entire coaching job, it will be split into two.

One of the roles will be to look after the cricket development from U-13 to U-19 level, while another one will be in charge of the high performance part. The high performance includes players from U-19 to semi-professional level. Both of them will have an input in the running of the U-19 side.

Jennings, who can put his name under consideration for the two positions, has not yet decided on his future. The applications for the vacancy will open shortly.

“It does concern me,” Jennings said at the team’s reception at Newlands. “I also need to know where I am going. I have been loyal to South Africa but if people don’t want you, you’ve got to pack up and move on.”

On his World Cup winning team, he said: “They really gave me a kickstart. They were on the same wavelength as me and were a breath of fresh air. Sometimes as a coach, you lose faith in the younger generation but these guys were professional. I have a formula as a coach and these guys ticked that formula. They got up every day and did the right thing.”

The togetherness of the U-19 squad has been partly credited to the different living arrangements that they had made. Sharing a four-bedroom apartment in the UAE, the management had staffs split up and occupy a room for themselves.

“It was first occasion in which we really spent time like that and it helped us get really close to the players,” Jennings said. “I don’t think other squads had that experience. We were a team of people together and we were going to walk on water together.”

Jennings truly needs to be applauded for his heroic achievements: besides being the only South African coach to ever win a World Cup at any level, he also has a marvellous record as the U-19 coach having lost only four matches at World Cups in 8 years.

“It was my job when I started coaching to turn the side around because U-19 cricket is important,” he said. “In the first year I took over, 2006, we finished in 11th place and we lost to Nepal in the quarter-finals. We’ve gone from that to winning.”

The combination of discipline and cricketing knowledge of some of the players like Dean Elgar, Wayne Parnell and, most recently, Quinton de Kock has been credited to Jennings.

Jennings has had a tough turn of the year, as this follows after him losing his position as the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore to Daniel Vettori of New Zealand. In his stint with the Bangalore based franchise, Jennings guided them to two finals in 2009 and 2011, with 2011 being his best year as the RCB boss.