Good on you, Cricket South Africa.
The governing body announced on the weekend that they will change their structures to allow a team manager, with Corrie van Zyl also announced acting Director of
Cricket, to have ultimate control over the team.
In cricket and rugby, we generally have head coaches taking charge of teams and not managers.
In soccer, it is different with the manager being the big boss when it comes to making technical and tactical calls, as well as signing players.
For years now, I thought we should relook this model in cricket and rugby. You get guys who are great at managing a team.
Allow me to break it down.
These are guys that know exactly what to say when they are trying to fire up their charges, guys that know exactly what is needed tactically and guys that can figure out the opponents’ tactics in a blink of an eye.
Now while these guys know exactly what needs to be done and who to use to get it done, they are perhaps not the best coaches.
Now in cricket terms, a good example will be a coach that can’t necessarily help the batsmen improve their technique, in rugby it will be a coach that can’t teach a scrumhalf the fine art of box-kicking.
Assistant coaches generally come into play.
I believe a move like this will allow managers the opportunity to appoint the best coaches, without feeling someone is stepping on their toes or that someone is better in their field.
Not only will the move to management be good for the running of the structure, but it can only benefit
individual players.