Cricket South Africa appoint Graeme Smith as director of cricket on permanent deal

While the national side was beaten in the Test and T20I series, drawing a rain-affected ODI contest, the impact of Smith, head coach Mark Boucher and support staff Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt was clear

Graeme Smith has been appointed as Cricket South Africa’s director of cricket on a two-year deal, having held the role in an interim capacity since December.

His permanent contract, however, will see him continue in the post until the end of March 2022. The former Proteas captain was initially handed the position by acting chief executive Jacques Faul during a time of deep uncertainty for South African cricket ahead of England’s winter tour of the country.

While the national side was beaten in the Test and T20I series, drawing a rain-affected ODI contest, the influence of Smith, head coach Mark Boucher and support staff Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt has been clear.

“Graeme has made a huge impact with his energy, expertise, hard work ethic and characteristic determination and passion he has brought to the position during the six months he has served in an acting capacity,” Faul said.

“Although there is certainly a great deal of work to be done, as reflected by the performances of our various national teams, he has certainly put our cricket on an upward trajectory that provides light at the end of the tunnel.

“He has bought into all the overall pillars of our strategy and that includes the important one of transformation.

“As far as the technical and support teams he has put together are concerned, the black generic component amounted to more than 70 percent across the board and the Black African component varied between 30 and 60 percent for the Standard Bank Proteas for the home international season, for the Momentum Proteas for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and for the ICC under-19 World Cup, which we were privileged and proud to host.”

Smith has also been responsible for the temporary appointments of Linda Zondi as interim independent national selector and former teammate Ashwell Prince as South Africa A head coach, with Malibongwe Maketa joining the under-19 setup as a coaching consultant.

“My appointment brings a degree of permanency to my position which makes planning the road ahead a lot easier,” Smith added.

“As Dr. Faul has said, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done, not just at international level but throughout our pipeline development pathways as well but I am determined to get South African cricket back to where it belongs as one of the world leaders at international level.”

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