Graeme Smith withdraws interest for South Africa director of cricket role

The news comes days after it was reported that the former captain had been interviewed for the role

Graeme Smith has withdrawn his interest in becoming South Africa’s first full-time director of cricket.

The news comes days after it was reported that the former captain had been interviewed for the role. Smith revealed in a statement on Twitter that he had renounced his candidacy.

“Following the news in the media this week that I interviewed for the CSA director of cricket role, I felt it necessary to confirm that I have unfortunately withdrawn my interest for the role,” he wrote.

“I would love to have taken on the role. However, despite my obvious desire to make a difference, during the long and, at times, frustrating process over the last ten or so weeks of discussions, I have not developed the necessary confidence that I would be given the level of freedom and support to initiate the required changes.

“My passion for our nation’s cricketing fortunes remains steadfast and I give my heartfelt best wishes to whomever does take the role on. I will continue to support the teams and give my advice and guidance whenever I can.”

It is understood that Corrie van Zyl, who was suspended as interim director of cricket last month, and former selector Hussein Manack have also been interviewed for the role with the position expected to be confirmed in the next fortnight.

Smith represented South Africa in 117 Tests, captaining the side in 109 of them and amassing 9,265 runs in the process. He was said to have been interviewed by a five-person panel which included CEO Thabang Moroe.

Recently, current skipper Faf du Plessis called for clarity over Cricket South Africa’s restructuring in order for the team to be able to move forward on the field.

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