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| LAUGH OUT LOUD: Russell Domingo finds humor in a question asked by journalists during a press conference |
My former
Pretoria High School Old Boys academy coach and now Northerns Amateur senior
coach, Mark Charlton, always used to preach the inspirational quote on a daily
basis before we would start with training. “It’s not how you begin, but how you
end.”
You might
start off well, but your truest test of character is proven in the long run by
emerging through the ups and downs. In other words, not everybody will begin
their career on a high note, but if you don’t, never let it get you down or create
doubt about your own capabilities.
New Proteas
coach Russell Domingo has to believe in those exact words more than ever after
leading the troops in green and gold through a disappointing tour of Sri Lanka.
Despite the Proteas winning the T20 International three-match series against
the top ranked in the shortened format, the wounds incurred from the beating
the Proteas had at the hands of the Sri Lankans in the ODI Series, will
undoubtedly play on the minds of both Domingo and the players for some time to
come.
It’s no
secret that the standards between franchise and international cricket differ
quite a lot. Domingo would have noticed that while serving as the assistant
coach to Gary Kirsten during his reign as Proteas head coach. However Domingo’s
situation is different now that he’s the man in charge. He’s decisions about
the roles of certain players will be critical, in particularly senior players
and leaders in the squad. His approach towards every series has to be different
to that of Kirsten’s. Domingo must impose his own brand and stamp his authority
early on. He can’t afford to settle for the stigma of “taking over Kirsten’s
big shoes” and “Kirsten would have done it like this” taunts in the media.
With the
coaching staff he has selected to accompany him, the aim is to build a more
formidable Proteas team. Domingo has not stayed from the successful combination
of himself with assistant coach Adrian Birrell. Birrell was Domingo’s right
hand man when he took the Chevrolet Warriors to championship glory in 2009 in
the 40-over and T20-over competition. Victory in the T20 competition secured
the team coveted place in the 2010 T20 Champions League where they finished as
runners-up.
The selecting
of Claude Henderson as spin coach was a good out-of-the-box idea. Henderson’s
healthy career record of 273 First-Class matches (both in South Africa’s
SuperSport Series and England’s County Championship) will bring an array of highly
valuable experience to the maturing spinners such as Aaron Phangiso and offer a
learning experience for trusted hands such as Robin Peterson.
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| HOOORAY: An ecstatic Imran Tahir celebrates a wicket in the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup |
I was a
little disappointed in the lack of faith Domingo had shown in Imran Tahir on
sub-continental wickets where the Sri Lankan spinners continually bullied the
Proteas’ batting order. Despite both spin bowling conditions in India and Sri
Lanka being very similar, Tahir’s impressive bowling performances in India at
the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup seemed to have been quickly forgotten. This is one
of the Proteas downfalls in limited-overs cricket. Under Kirsten, players such
as Imran Tahir and Henry Davids were subjected to only playing ODI or T20
internationals; instead of featuring in both formats of limited-overs game. Domingo
will have to change this mentality if he wants limited-overs success in the
near future. But having said that, he too shouldn’t try out what he feels is
his perfect combination. Rather make the little mistakes early on than later on
into his reign as the Proteas coach.
-Mandilulame Manjezi
www.jizzyjakes.blogspot.com@JizzyjakesTheIn
