Two head coaches: Not best business sense, but good for Proteas, says CEO

Having to pay two national team coaches might not make the best business sense, but Cricket South Africa CEO Pholetsi Moseki said on Monday that the appointment of Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter, to oversee the Proteas in red-ball and white-ball cricket respectively, was an investment in the good of the game.

For the first time since the end of 2012 when Russell Domingo coached the T20 side and Gary Kirsten was in charge of Tests and ODIs, Cricket South Africa have split the national coaching role. While former Titans coach and Proteas conditioning and fitness specialist Walter will have a busy time with a white-ball World Cup being played every year until the end of his contract in 2027, Test cricket is being scaled back.

But Moseki said appointing a full-time, and separate Test coach, showed the importance of the long format to CSA.

Read more: Proteas name new coaches for red and white-ball cricket

“We always emphasise the importance of Test cricket and the Proteas will still play a number of Tests over the next four years, and we still hope to squeeze in some more,” Moseki said at CSA headquarters.

“The split roles show how serious we are about the Test format and we are not relegating it to the margins. We want to invest in it, and get the standard back to where it belongs.

“It is one of the director of cricket’s strategies, he sold to us splitting the coaching job and it has worked for other countries. There is an ICC event every year, so that is quite a workload, and Rob can focus on those.

“The red-ball coach will also be busy, there’s no free lunch at CSA, and Shukri will contribute to the high-performance structure. We are aware that we are in the business of cricket and if that collapses, there’s no reason for us to still be in business,” Moseki said.

Best two coaches

Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe said the selection panel he headed went for the best two coaches of the 20 that applied, and then decided the 55-year-old Conrad, a veteran of the local scene having headed up the Lions and Cobras franchises, as well as the SA A side and the national academy, and currently the SA U19 team, was best suited for the Test cricket role.

The 47-year-old Walter, who led the Titans to five trophies across all three formats between 2013 and 2016, was chosen for his innovative coaching, leadership and man-management, according to Nkwe.

He said it was vital both Conrad and Walter had a similar vision for the Proteas in terms of playing philosophy.

“Having been involved in the local system before and dominated, as well as with the Proteas, Rob understands where our cricket is at. The most important thing though is his playing philosophy.

“I picked up a good synergy between how aligned he and Shukri are, and they are both big believers in man-management, as well as looking after the younger generation.

“In my engagements with the two coaches, I don’t see any complications, they are both very open-minded. We need to build stability and by the end of the season it should be very clear how we are going into the next two years.

“One thing that also stood out with both coaches is the mental aspect. They understand exactly what is required to create an environment in which the players can excel,” Nkwe said.

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