Cricket SA boss says early exit of men's, women's and Under 19 teams 'is clearly not acceptable'
South Africa to review World T20 exit
Following their group-stage exit at the recent World T20 in India, Cricket South Africa have announced an independent review of the national side.
Despite the presence of the likes of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, David Miller and Dale Steyn in their squad, South Africa only registered wins against Afghanistan and then Sri Lanka in a dead-rubber to be knocked out in the group stage.
They lost their other two matches to eventual finalists the West Indies and England and their loss to Eoin Morgan’s men was particularly shocking, as the Proteas failed to defend a mammoth 229.
Chairperson of CSA’s HR Committee, Dawn Mokhobo, will lead the four-person panel in the review and will be joined by Adam Bacher, a 19-Test batsman, Francois Piennar, the Springboks’ 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning captain and Dr Ross Tucker, a sports physiologist.
South Africa’s women were also bundled out at the group-stage of the WT20, as were their under-19 side at the recent youth World Cup, prompting CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat to call for the review.
"After performing below expectations at the recent ICC World T20, it would be right for us to undertake an objective and thorough review of our national teams' setup and performances," Lorgat said.
"While we plan to do this as soon as practically possible, we do not intend to place a deadline on this important piece of work as we presently have capable people and contracts in place. We have time to do a thorough review before the Board makes any decisions about the future.
"Our recent performances resulting in early exits for all our national teams at the ICC World T20 and the ICC U/19 CWC events is clearly not acceptable. This calls for us to conduct a clinical review into the national setup and performances of the various teams.
"This focused review of our national teams will add important information to the current review on our domestic cricket systems which is already underway."
The next assignment for South Africa’s men will be a limited-overs tri-series against the West Indies and Australia in the Caribbean in June.