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Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith is tipped to be the frontrunner for the post of CSA's director of cricket. An abysmal World Cup campaign this summer in England and Wales resulted in the creation of this new post. However, Smith is expected to receive competition from former national selector Hussein Manack and suspended interim director of cricket Corrie van Zyl.
Smith, who also is a prominent analyst and commentator on television, will know his fate within two weeks. According to their advertisement, CSA required the candidates to possess a sports management degree and at least 10-years of working experience of either playing/coaching in first-class cricket or above or in sports or media management. The post of director of cricket will oversee the working of national and high-performance teams as well as age-group and domestic structures. CSA can be seen following the footsteps of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who first appointed former captain Andrew Strauss and now have Ashely Giles filling up the post of director of cricket of England.
Graeme Smith knows a thing or two about handling a responsibility. He was giving the captaincy reins when at only 22 years of age. Not only was he the youngest captain of South Africa, but he also ended up as the most successful one in terms of record and longevity. In his 109 Tests as captain, he won 53 and lost 29 between 2002 and 2014.
South African cricket has failed to perform in crunch matches overseas and ICC tournaments. South Africa endured testing times at the World Cup this year and finished seventh with only three wins in their kitty just above Bangladesh, West Indies, and Afghanistan. In their recent tour of India, South Africa drew the three-match T20I series 1-1 (the first match was abandoned without a ball being bowled) but surrendered all the three-Test matches without giving much of a fight.
South Africa are scheduled to play four Test matches, three ODIs, and three T20Is against England at home starting December 26. The 52-day long tour will start on Boxing Day at Centurion and will end at the venue on February 16 after the last T20I.
Also see - Mushtaq Ali schedule
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