5 areas where Russell Domingo failed as South Africa coach

South Africa are one of the most decorated teams in world cricket. They are currently ranked No. 2, No. 1 and No. 7 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively.

Their recent struggles don't really reflect in the rankings. Russell Domingo, who coached the South African national team for about four years, took over the reins from one of the most decorated coaches in cricket history, Gary Kirsten.

He bowed out after a roller-coaster tenure. While the first two years went along smoothly, the last 18 months or so hasn’t really been the same for the South African team. Thus, Domingo’s contract wasn't renewed after it ended in August this year as Ottis Gibson replaced him as the head coach.

In a recent interview, the South African revealed that he will be handing over an 'unfinished article' to the person who succeeds him (Ottis Gibson)."There are definite holes in the Test side that need a bit of attention, some tinkering which must take place," Domingo said.

Though Domingo will still stay in the thick of things in South African cricket coaching the ‘A’ team, we look into 5 areas where he failed as the coach of South Africa.

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#1 Inconsistency in the last two years

In the last two years (since July 2015 – the start of Bangladesh series), South Africa have been very inconsistent - especially in Test cricket. Out of the 25 Test matches played, they have won 9 and lost 9, something that reflects the magnitude of their inconsistency.

Even out of the 7 Tests that have been drawn, most of them have been affected by rain and South Africa were in a spot of bother in almost each of them. So, Domingo failed to inspire confidence when South Africa were in trouble during matches or the series. The Proteas, who are known to fight till the end, seemed lost mid-way through a few series where they were behind.

They lost to Australia 2-1 (in 2014) and England 2-1 (in 2015-16) at home. The loss to England led to Amla quitting captaincy midway through the series. There have been four Test skippers under Domingo–Graeme Smith (retired in 2014), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.

As a result, inconsistency crept in.

#2 Failed to improve South Africa’s knockout record in ICC events

South Africa couldn't break their knockout jinx even under Domingo

Everyone knows that South Africa carry the ‘C’ (Chokers) tag in every ICC tournament they play. They just don’t seem to figure out the way to win a knockout game.

Under Domingo, South Africa reached the semifinals of the 2013 Champions Trophy, 2014 T20 World Cup and 2015 50-over World Cup, but couldn’t break the semi-final hoodoo. Domingo failed to inspire them to any multi-team tournament silverware as well.

South Africa hoped that Kirsten, after his success with India, could bring about change in South Africa’s knockout fortunes. However, even he failed to inspire anything, which led to all the hopes being pinned on Domingo, who was rated very highly. And it even looked like they would break the jinx in 2015 at the World Cup, but once again the Proteas couldn’t handle things properly when the match came down to the wire.

When it looked like they had the team to lift the Champions Trophy this year and end the trophy drought, they again failed to live up to the expectations as they lost to India in a must-win game. Domingo didn’t seem to have any answers as to why South Africa couldn't break the knockout jinx.

#3 Dip in overseas record

Russell Domingo

South Africa were known to be one of the best teams on tour. Their overseas record was amongst the best in the business. They hadn’t lost a Test series away from home for 9 years until they lost to India in 2015. It was not the loss, but the manner in which they lost that was painful to witness.

An abject surrender – which was very unlike South Africa. Domingo could have played a big role in motivating the players and keeping their morale up, but he failed on that count as well.

They recently lost in England, too, as the Proteas failed completely, not winning a single series across three formats. This England tour brought a lot of criticism for their continuous failures in the UK where they managed to win only 4 out the 13 games played across formats.

Domingo could and should have taken more responsibility to instill confidence in players when their morale was down.

#4 Couldn’t carry forward the good work done by Kirsten

Domingo is a very highly rated person in the South African dressing room

Under Gary Kirsten, South Africa lost only two Test matches over the span of two years and never lost a series. Even in ODIs, they did well under him and lost only a couple of series.

Russell Domingo, who took over from Kirsten after assisting him for a couple of years, is highly rated in the South African dressing room. Under his tutelage, the Proteas lost 12 Tests and won 15 out of the 38 they played.

When Domingo took charge, South Africa were No. 1 in the Test rankings, which they lost in January 2016. He failed to carry forward the good work done by Kirsten before him.

#5 Couldn’t prevent players from signing Kolpak deals

Players like Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw have taken the Kolpak route

Losing players to Kolpak deals has been the talking point for quite some time. Quality players from South Africa like Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, and David Wiese have signed Kolpak deals recently.

Signing Kolpak deals has meant more money – players can make three times the greens by playing County than they would by playing for South Africa. South Africa lost 9 players last year including Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese, Stiaan van Zyl, and Simon Harmer.

Abbott, Rossouw, Wiese, and Harmer – all of them were in the thick of things, but their personal problems led them to take the Kolpak route – which left Domingo bitterly disappointed.

The coach should have assumed the leader's role and persuaded his players against signing such a deal, but his inability to do so remains one of his failures with the Proteas.