Dillon du Preez ruled himself out of the running to be the Proteas head coach, a decision that has left Cricket SA scrambling to find prospective candidates, days before they face England in a crucial multi-format series.
Cricket SA had hoped to announce Du Preez’s appointment on November 1, but instead have now been forced to push the date to early next month ahead of the three-match ODI series against Heather Knight’s English side.
Du Preez stressed the gravity of “picking the right person” to fill the position and said making that appointment timeously was critical, with qualification for the ODI World Cup at stake and preparation for a tournament that needs to begin in the next few months.
Du Preez will continue as interim coach for the three T20 matches — the first of which will be played next Monday. “The head coach is not as hands-on and that would take me out of my role, which is mainly bowling. I’ve told them I’m not keen on taking the position at this stage,” he said.
Instead, the new coach will be appointed in time for the ODIs which will go a long way towards determining whether Laura Wolvaardt’s team earns an automatic qualifying spot in next year’s World Cup.
“The last four months have been incredible," said Du Preez. “I told everyone I needed to grow as a coach, which I did. But there is still a lot that I need to learn. I’m not interested in the (full-time) job, in a nice way. I don’t want to be disrespectful, I will focus on my role for now. Maybe in four or five years, it would be something that I would be keen on taking.”
Du Preez still has a year left on his contract as bowling coach, and took up the interim position when a frustrated Hilton Moreeng — who’d also been on part-time contracts — headed to the US in June to coach the national women’s team in that country.
CSA, through its director of cricket Enoch Nkwe, had planned to appoint a full-time coach after the T20 World Cup. But Du Preez informed Nkwe after that tournament that he wasn’t ready, leaving CSA to draw up another shortlist and conduct interviews. That process, which includes psychometric tests, is being finalised with Nkwe set to announce the new coach before December 4, when South Africa faces England in the first One-Day International.
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“Hopefully they pick the right person for the team,” said Du Preez. “The team fully understands what is going on, but they want to know who the head coach will be.”
Du Preez diplomatically described the lengthy interim period and the challenges it has thrown up for him and the rest of the coaching staff as “OK”. “Luckily, the big thing was the buy-in from the players; they know me and they know my approach.”
He praised his assistants, batting coach Baakier Abrahams, fielding coach Bongani Ndaba and Paul Adams, who oversaw the spin bowlers during the World Cup, for their support.
“They know my shortcomings and they climb in where needed. We made it work. It’s OK for me, as long as at the start of the ODIs we get that new coach in. We don’t want to wait until next year, because we need to start our preparation for the ODI World Cup,” said Du Preez.
England faced stinging criticism for their semifinal exit against the Proteas in Dubai, with questions raised over leadership and fitness, making the series here a crossroads for them. However, Du Preez said South Africa were also under the microscope. “We need points for the Women’s Championship, so that is crucial. There is a lot of pressure on us.
“We had a decent series against Pakistan and the World Cup was unbelievable for us, but before that we were very inconsistent.”
Proteas skipper Wolvaardt, along with Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk will arrive in South Africa at the end of the week, after completing playing duties in the Women’s Big Bash in Australia.
