Cricket South Africa (CSA) is in talks with interim director Graeme Smith to give him a permanent role.
Smith was appointed to his current position in December last year when he signed a three-month contract.
That contract came to an end yesterday, with CSA’s interim CEO Jacques Faul saying: “We are in final negotiations with Graeme and we hope to make an announcement next week.”
Smith knows it won’t be easy to get the Proteas men side back to the top in world cricket and says of his three-month stint to date: “It’s very difficult to assess in such a short space of time - there were some good aspects and a lot of learning.”
Going forward, Biff, as Smith is known, says they are in the process of identifying 40-45 players that will take the national team forward from next season onwards.
With Quinton de Kock leading the limited-overs team, Smith says they have not yet discussed who the national Test captain will be.
IMPRESSIVE: Quinton de Kock
He says of De Kock’s leadership: “The expectations of Quinny’s leadership to date was mainly around tactical side on the field - he has had some challenges.
“We picked a fair amount of new and young players and it’s never easy as a captain to get them to gel.
“He connected really well as a leader with the boys behind closed doors.
“Collectively as a group, the people that have been appointed - rest of the staff - we will have to see how we can improve all of them.
“As an organization we want to keep growing, but all-in-all I’m very happy with the way Quinny coped.”