Former South Africa Captain Graeme Smith appointed CSA acting director of cricket

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Updated: December 12, 2019
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CSA (Cricket South Africa) has appointed former south african captain Graeme Smith as its new director of cricket on 11 December 2019 and this has raised the expectations of fans about the future of the beautiful game in the country. There were several difficult months for the game in South Africa with mismanagement by the administration and ineffective leadership on part of the authorities. CSA has been increasingly jolted by several issues including growing financial losses and hostility between the players who are the biggest stakeholders. Graeme Smith is the first individual to hold this new position in this scenario.

The contract concludes at the end of March, 2020 and this may well make Smith one of the numerous interim appointments at the board. His previous commitment for commentary duties at the upcoming 2020 IPL (Indian Premier League) has apparently worked as a hurdle to a longer stint. Smith has not issued any official response as to whether he was open to taking the position again after the conclusion of the IPL 2020.

Jacques Faul, the acting chief executive at CSA, has already stated that the board is delighted with Smith’s agreement to assist it till next year’s IPL. He has also added that Smith has raised a few concerns over the state of the game through the last few months but those issues have been overcome. Smith will be working in collaboration with the board to urgently take care of important cricketing issues. Faul has also stated that Smith is the most successful Test captain in the history of cricket from a statistical perspective and is known for his natural leadership qualities and in-depth cricketing knowledge.

Smith has played 116 Tests for South Africa, captaining the team in 108 matches overall, winning 53 games and losing 28. He has already stated previously that he would be pleased to support CSA in this tough period, particularly through developing the director of cricket position since he remains similarly passionate about cricket in South Africa and looks forward to getting more work done over the next few months. It remains to be seen whether 38-year old Smith can make a huge difference in only a few months. He will have to start immediately with South Africa due to face England in a Test Series that starts on 26^th December at Centurion. He will have to decide on whether the interim team director Enoch Nkwe will remain in his post since there is still no selection panel.

A majority of the South African team has been playing the Mzansi Super League and may need more preparation for the Test Series. Faf du Plessis played his last Test match sometime back in Ranchi although Joe Root, his opponent captain, has played two Test matches in New Zealand and a two-day game recently. South African players may fix this situation by playing in several franchise first-class games starting soon and they may also play in two-day tour matches against England at Benoni.

Smith may have accepted the appointment subject to the ouster of Thabang Moroe, the chief executive, as per reports. Moroe was suspended sometime earlier and Jacques Faul became the acting chief executive. The CSA Board, which oversaw the controversy-riddled reign of Moroe starting from September 2017 (he was made acting chief executive for replacing Haroon Lorgat), has dismissed speculation about its own removal in spite of the resignation of 3 out of its 5 independent directors.